The Chance at a Promise
by CamperMan501
Summary: Betrayed by Sakura, Naruto is the only person left alive, while all his friends and enemies lie dead.Greaved by the death of his fiance, Hinata, Naruto was then given the chance to go back and correct his mistakes. Lots of Sakura bashing Naru/Hina
1. Then there was one

I do not own Naruto. This is my first Fanfic. Please comment

The Chance at a Promise

Naruto looked down at Sasuke's broken and lifeless body. He looked at the man who had been like a brother to him, his eternal rival and his former team mate. Now to him he was the man who had taken everything from him, a selfish bastard who put his goals and vengeance in front of everything, his friends, his teachers and his own village which was now burning to the ground.

Sasuke and his team called Taka, Madara Uchiha, the ninja of the sound and the last of the Akatsuki had come to Konoha to crush the last Hidden Village. They had been picking each village off, one by one until the only one standing was the old leaf.

Naruto and his friends may have survived the battle if the betrayal of one of their own, a certain pink haired kunoichi, had been found out before the beginning of the siege. Because of her selfish lust for Sasuke everything went to hell.

Naruto stopped looking at the corpse before him to look at the remains of the place he had sworn to protect. He had been voted Hokage before the assault, his dream had become true and he had found love, true love for the first time in his life. But now his love was broken and gone, just like the rest of the village. Everyone was dead. Sai, Ino, Neji, Kakashi, Tsunadue, Gaara, Iruka, Konohamaru, Shikamaru. All of the ones who had ever called him friend were now gone from the world.

But the death that caused him so much pain had been the one he was now looking at. He looked into the dead lavender eyes of Hinata Hyuga, the one who had loved him since they were children, the one who risked her own life to save him from Nagato, and the one who asked him to marry her but never got her answer.

Naruto couldn't take it anymore. He fell onto his knees and began to cry. He cried for what seemed like hours until he finally managed to control himself. He got to his feet and looked around. He spotted the thing he was looking for and he walked towards it. Naruto eyes were full with hatred as he stared down upon Sakura's corpse.

"You bitch" Naruto snarled. "This is all your fault". He then stomped on Sakura's face with all his might. "You just had to betray us for that murdering shit. You betrayed and killed Tsunadue; you manipulated Lee to help you and broke his neck for thanks". He then stooped down and began punching every inch of her dead body. "You let the bastards in and slaughtered all of the children of the academy, you left Sai to die and slit Ino's throat when she saved your life". Angry tears began forming in Naruto eyes as he stopped beating the bitch but then began forming a Rasengan in his left hand. "You killed Kakashi-sensei, and..." he said trough his tears as the orb in his hand was complete. "And you killed my love!" he yelled in hatred as he rammed the Rasengan into her face.

By the time he was finished with her, Sakura's corpse was reduced to a bloody lump. Naruto stood up, felling no better than before his butchery. He looked around at the place he once called home when he saw something that made his heart stop.

Standing before him was a pale, ghostly spectre of a man with orange spiky hair and his eyes were as they were in life, the blank stare of the Rinnegan still chilled Naruto to his core. Nagato was looking at Naruto with a blank stare.


	2. The offer from a God

**Thanks for all the revievs. Sorry this chapter is also short but I promise that the next will be longer. I do not own Naruto**

**Just to note Nagato and Pein are the same character I just like to call him Nagato**

"Naruto Uzumaki" said Nagato in an emotionless voice. He looked exactly like he had when they first met. Naruto didn't answer; just stared at the ghost of the man he had made his last, greatest promise to, the promise he would create true peace in the world.

"I'm sorry" was all Naruto could say. Nagato still stared, his face void of emotion, so Naruto continued; "I'm sorry I could not keep my promise". Nagato gaze was unwavering and still showed no sign of speaking, so Naruto continued "I promised you I would bring peace to the world. I failed; there is no hope for peace now. The ninja are all dead except me. The lands will probably go to war with each over since there are no more ninja to keep them in check." Still Nagato kept silent and Naruto lost patience "Look if your here to gloat then do it. I failed. I..."

"Naruto" Nagato suddenly spoke; his voice still had no emotion "Why did you fail?"

Naruto laughed bitterly "It's because I was naive, I thought that after Sasuke killed Itachi he would come home. But no, instead he continued his quest for vengeance. He teamed up with the Akatsuki to destroy Konoha and all the over villages. We might have been able to stop him if..." He turned to look at the lump of meat that was once Sakura's body "Sakura had not sided with that bastard and betray us. I should have seen it coming." He turned to face Nagato, who face still looked like it was carved out of stone. "So it was my fault. I the "child of prophecy" have brought the end of the kami dammed world. All the pain I suffered, the training to control the fox was all for nothing."

Nagato looked at Naruto with something that looked almost like pity "I see. So your bond to the Uchiha and your love for the girl blinded you from your goal"

Naruto gave Nagato a look that if he was alive, the look alone would have kill Nagato. "My bond to Sasuke did blind my judgment, but don't you ever say that I loved that back stabbing slut." Naruto snarled.

Nagato looked at Naruto and spoke calmly "Naruto, I already knew what has happened. I have been watching you from the afterlife and I was pleased at the attempts you have tried to gain peace. The only thing that got in your way was the Uchiha and the as so you put it "back stabbing slut". And those problems have indeed brought the end of peace. But if you had a chance to start again would you do all in your power to prevent what has happened here today?"

Naruto stared at Nagato, with a mixture of hope, joy and sadness, "If I could have another chance, I would do everything in my power to stop Sasuke and bring about world peace."

Nagato smiled, which creeped Naruto out, and stated "Good because I have found a way. Using my rinnegan and the power I have been building, I could send your sprit back to the past, along with all your knowledge and experience. But be warned, your body in the past will not be strong enough to do all the things you can do now and you will be plagued with nightmares of today. Knowing this will you still do all in your power to stop this future?"

But Nagato already knew what the blonde Hokage was going to say.

"I will, I promise that I will stop the future by any means possible. This is a promise of a life time"

Nagato chuckled "Or two in your case". He raised his hand and pointed at Naruto. His rinnegan eyes flashed and a white light enveloped the blonde as he looked around at the ruins of his home.

_I promise I will protect those I love_ Naruto thought as the light became the only thing he could see. _I_ _promise I will change all this and_ he smiled to himself _I promise I will make Hinata happy no matter what._


	3. Back in the past and first memory

**Thank for all the reviws. Now just so you know Sasuke and Sakura won't apear unti at lest 2 chapters. But I promise you this I,ve got somthing In store for the banshee (Evil Grin) soz for bad spelling**

**Bold "Jutsu"**

_**Bold Italic "Flash Back or Nightmare"**_

_Italic "Thoughts"_

Naruto gasped. He almost fell of the swing he was sitting on. He blinked and saw the ninja academy, not burned down and flatten but tall and strong. He carful looked around and saw a crowd of parents hugging their children and saying "congratulations" or "well done". He knew where he was. This was the day he failed the genin test for the 3rd time.

He smiled to himself thinking _"It worked_. _I'm in the past"._

Naruto was so relived it had worked _"Thank you Nagato"_ he thought.

But back to the present, Naruto knew he needed to stop smiling and act sad. Out of the corner of his eye Naruto saw Mizuki.

His blood ran cold.

_**Naruto barged down the academy main door. He had to hurry. He sprinted down the corridor down to his old class room. When he swung the door open he saw a dreadful sight. Sakura had just finished slitting a young boy's throat and Mizuki had Iruka by the throat, pressed against the wall. **_

_**Sakura saw him and shouted "Mizuki kill him and once you're finished with baka here come and meet me at the main village gate "once she had finished speaking she leapt out of a window so she could escape.**_

_**Mizuki looked over his shoulder and saw Naruto. "Ah, if it isn't the demon Hokage. Come to save your sensei? Well too late!" **_

_**And before Naruto could stop him, Mizuki plunged his kunai deep in to Iruka's throat. Naruto roared with rage and before Mizuki could even blink, Naruto snapped his neck. He let the corpse fell as he rushed to Iruka's side. "Iruka-sensei, no!" **_

Naruto pulled himself to the present. _"Don't think about that"_ he thought to himself.

He needed to remain focused. He needed to look down in the dumps. As Mizuki silently made his way behind Naruto, the boy in question knew what he had to do. He looked up pretending to see Mizuki for the first time. He smiled at him and Naruto had to resist ringing his neck.

*Hours later*

As Naruto came into the clearing with the forbidden scroll on his back, he saw the cabin and he walked towards it. Naruto was chuckling to himself. It had been so kami damn easy getting the scroll the seconded time round that no one will notice it gone for at least five hours. That gave him plenty of time to test his abilities. Without even opening the scroll, he put his hands together to form the ram symbol.

"**Shadow Clone Jutsu** "he bellowed.

Around 100 clones appeared in the clearing. He smiled to himself or rather him selves. One of the clones said "What the hell. Why are we midgets. One minute were talking with purple eyes, the next were standing in our old "please kill me" bright orange jumpsuit"

It seemed the clones had retained his memories. Well some of them anyhow. Instead of explaining he dispelled all of the clones and watched the smoke they produced while thinking what to do next.

After Nagato's invasion, Naruto had been training his butt off, learning how to control the Kyuubi, increasing his knowledge and had been entirely focused on learning hand sign Jutsus. He had been so far behind in elemental manipulation he could only do one Jutsu, Rasen Shrunken.

True it was powerful, but it cost too much chakra and he decided that shadow clones were getting too old because everyone knew his tactics with them. So he learned lots of wind style jutsus. Also he learned that he had a secondary affinity, earth. And by the time Naruto could control the fox, he discovered another element, curtsy of his nine tallied tenet.

So when it came to that fateful day, Naruto had fire, wind and earth Jutsus done to a T. His stupidity had been replaced by a more serious one, well on duty anyway.

He was known as the "Fox Shuriken of the leaf". This was because all of his manipulation jutsus that did not need hand signs usually took the form of a shuriken. The fox part... well that bit was obvious.

After thinking for a bit, Naruto decided to test his chakra control. Leaving the forbidden scroll by the cabin, Naruto headed towards a tree. As he reached its trunk, Naruto wondered if he had to learn to control his chakra all over again. Gritting his teeth together, he began to walk up the tree. He was relived as he walked up and down the tree with hardly any effort at all. After his first try he then added more difficulty to the exercise by putting a leaf on his forehead. He needed to make it float a fraction off his forehead while walking up and down the tree. This too was so easy that he almost laughed. He continued for ten minutes; adding more stuff to float and balancing kunai on the tips of his fingers until he concluded that his control was almost near perfect.

"Now for the real challenge" he thought.

He put his hands together, did a couple of hand sigs and said "**Clone jutsu**."

Next second, 10 clones appeared by his side. He was about to congratulate himself when he saw a single, pathetic copy of himself on the clearing floor.

Sighing, he dispelled the clones with gloom on his face. Even after 8 years of practice, starting from when he was a genin, he still could not do that jutsu without making one messed up clone.

After his little pout, Naruto decided to test his other classic. Thinking he might as well try with one hand, he extended his left arm out in front of him and began to focus. The familiar orb began to form in his hand, but as he looked at it carefully he noticed that the chakra was not spinning as fast as it should be. Knowing what was going to happen, Naruto walk upped to a tree and slammed his incomplete Rasengan into its trunk. As expected he could not sustain it, instead he just cut a spiral pattern into the tree's bark.

"That is probably going to happen if I use my right hand" he said thoughtfully.

Naruto knew that he could not just show tremendous power right off the back so he decided not to practice the Rasengan, but he decided to try out his element manipulation.

Picking up a stone, he placed it in the palm of his hand and began to focus his wind chakra. It took several minutes, but he managed to cut a jagged slash into the rock. Frowning, Naruto tried again with a different stone, this time the cut was deeper but still jagged. Knowing that he had to make it cut in half perfectly, he decided to get his clones to work on his other manipulations plus chakra control exercises. He may have his chakra control down but he need to increase his chakra reserves, even if it was only a little. As he summoned more clones he looked up at the starry night sky. "_This is_ _going to take a long time_" he thought.

*five hours later*

Iruka was leaping through the trees, fowling Naruto's trail. He was angry and upset that Naruto had stolen the forbidden scroll. The boy has always done pranks and such but this was the limit. Stealing the scroll was a capital offence.

"_Naruto must be upset that he has failed the Genin exam for the_ _third time_" Iruka thought sadly "_He_ _might just be doing this for a prank_".

One thing was clear; he was going to have a few words with Naruto about this. He landed by the edge of the clearing with the little cabin in the middle. Iruka saw Naruto and was about to yell at him when he noticed what he was doing. The blonde was holding a stone in each hand, and as the chunin watched he saw the stones brake into two. Iruka recognised this as a wind manipulation exercise, but could not understand how the blonde knew about the exercise or that he accomplished it with two stones, a feat that only jounin could pull off. He was brought back to reality when Naruto said "Iruka-sensei".

Looking into Naruto face he saw for a brief moment a look of sadness and joy, his eyes filled with tears. But as Iruka looked, it vanished as quickly as it had come. Did he imagine it? "Caught me already, huh sensei" he said with his big goofy grin on his face.

Iruka looked at Naruto and said "Naruto where did..." but Naruto cut across him.

"All right Iruka-sensei, I'm going to show you this amazing jutsu, and you're going to let me graduate. That's the way it works right?"

"Huh" Iruka said, caught off guard "Where did you get that idea?"

"Mizuki-sensei told me about it. He told me were to get the scroll and this place..." a puzzled expression fell on Naruto face "But I was surprised that I had to steal the forbidden scroll. I thought it was a capital offence to do that."

"It is Naruto but I can't understand..."Iruka noticed a glint of metal out of the corner of his eye "LOOK OUT!" he yelled pushing Naruto out of the way as several kunai pinned him against the cabin wall.

Naruto landed on his feet and saw what had happened to Iruka. He wiped around to see Mizuki standing on a tree branch, with two giant shuriken on his back. "I see you found our hideaway" he said with a smirk on his face.

Naruto had to stop himself from tearing him limb from limb right there and then. Naruto glanced at Iruka and saw that some of the kunai had pierced his arm, blood seeping down his jacket. "You basted; this was all a trick wasn't it"

Mizuki laughed "You're not as dumb as you look demon brat"

Iruka started pulling the kunai out and threw the first one onto the ground as he yelled "Naruto, get out of here. Take the scroll and get back to Konoha, I'll deal with this lying traitor"

Mizuki gave an evil smirk "Oh I'm the liar eh. Well how about some truth then" he looked at Naruto as he was about to pick up the scroll of the ground "Starting with you demon"

Iruka was pulling the 4th kunai out when he heard what Mizuki said "Don't Mizuki"

"They have been lying to you your whole life; didn't you think it was strange how they treated you? Like dirt, like they hated you for just being alive"

Naruto pretended to stop in shock and look at Mizuki in fake shock "What do you mean, lying about what" the blonde said in surprised tone. But going on in Naruto head was like this "_God I hate this acting, I wish I could just kill him now but I got to wait for a bit. One thing is for sure is I am not letting him hurt Iruka again" _

"They lied when they said that the 4th had killed the Kyuubi, you can't kill a demon. So they sealed it into a newborn infant"

Iruka was franticly pulling out the kunai so he could stop Mizuki telling Naruto the truth. "STOP IT!" he yelled, but Mizuki only just shouted "THAT NEW BORN INFANT WAS YOU!YOU ARE THE NINE TALLIED FOX!"

He looked to at Naruto to see the effect this would have on him, and was shocked to see him not crying about that no one will accept him because of what he is but just looked at Mizuki and yelled **"**I already knew that you basted and you're wrong! I am not the kyuubi, and even if I was I'd still be a better person than you! If I am truly a demon at least I would not be whatever you are, you back stabbing basted! You betrayed your own village, even tried to kill one of your comrades! You may call me a demon but you're nothing more than a selfish monster"

The blonde picked up a kunai 'that Iruka had pulled out to free himself' and readied himself "Try and hurt my sensei again and I will KILL YOU!"

Mizuki laughed, but was surprised the change in the blonde before him "LET SEE YOU TRY! SHOW ME WHAT YOU CAN DO NINE-TALIED FOX!"

Naruto smirked and, still holding the kunai, raised his hands to form the ram seal "Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Iruka blinked as he saw hundreds, no thousands of Narutos appearing in the clearing "_These aren't_ _illusions, there solid clones_" Iruka thought, amazed _"He has mastered an advance jutsu"_

Mizuki was so shocked he fell off the branch, landing on his backside. He started whimpering and mumbling for mercy.

"IF YOU'RE NOT COM'N" the clones yelled "WE ARE" And they all jumped into the air towards Mizuki. He tried to stand and was trying to pull out one of his shuriken as the clones, in mid jump, puffed into smoke, causing a major smoke screen. Mizuki had started to laugh at Naruto incompetence, though it was shot lived as the blonde shot out of the smoke with the kunai in his hand. Mizuki had underestimated Naruto, now the said blonde had stuck a kunai through his throat and all went black

Iruka could not see what was happening. Had Naruto defeated Mizuki? Or had Mizuki killed him. Iruka's blood ran cold. If Naruto had died, it would be his fault. He should have stopped him from charging Mizuki; he should have engaged him before... Iruka then heard a shrill gasp of pain. He looked at the smoke as it cleared away to see Naruto standing before Mizuki's corpse. His hands were covered in blood

Comment and Review Good or Bad

Also I am publishing another story. It is tenicly a crossover but there is no option to catrogrise it. Shoud I just publish it like this one?


	4. annoucmnet and short

**He up people **

**This is not a chapter.**

**The chapter in question is still being written.**

**I am doing this because it may take along time for it to actually post because I have things getting in the way.**

**So I decided to answer some of the reviews and also talk about my other story while I'm at it.**

**Plus there is a short at the bottom so you can read that instead. It has nothing to do with the story just a little short I cook up, so either read this or just scroll down and read short. Oh and by the way thank for the reviews **

**First: Uzumaki Ricky, if you read other fics you see Naruto sometimes has different affinities, like one time his only affinity was water. This is my fanfic and I have poetic licence. AKA I can write what I want as long as I put disclaimers. No offence, but I have decided his affinities are what they are in the story.**

**Jarjaxl sorry but no. This is a Naru/Hina Romance fanfic. I did consider it but no. First reason is that the story would be too complicated. Seconded, people have asked me not to make it a harem. And finally the parings you suggested. Here is what I think**

**Anko: No can't see it**

**Ino: Maybe but no in this fic**

**Temari: No because I am a Tema/Shika fan. I don't mind Naru/Tema but Tema is booked. (If you can't guess who then read the last bit a few times. Still can't see it? Then you have an IQ of -10**

**Sorry if I sound rude but there is no harem. **

**Now to the grammar. I know my grammar sucks, but I am having my friend CJaMes 12 to help so hopefully the grammar will not be a problem.**

**Now to my over story. It is called The Suffering of a Maelstrom. It is a cross over of Naruto and the Suffering.**

**Yeah you read right, the Suffering. The story is a about what might happen if something else was also sealed in Naruto. So to appreciate the story (Unless you already acquitted with the Suffering) I suggest watching the walkthrough of it on YouTube and its sequel The Ties That Bind. **

**But back to the plot. Because of what happened, Naruto grows up differently and has different powers. Basically, Naruto grows up allot like a red headed kazekage you know.**

**But enough of my chatter here is my short. Thx for all the reviews. Remember good or bad I need to know. The short is set after the wave ark but before the chunin exams.**

Sasuke was annoyed. He was more than annoyed. He was pissed. Ever since they had been put on the same team, Sasuke had to put up with a blonde harried dobe, a one eyed pervert and last and the very most annoying, a pink harried and screechy voiced banshee.

The dobe (AKA Naruto) was a loser who pouted and boasted all the time. True he was more useful than Sakura, who stood on the side lines and watched him, gawking like an idiot, but the said baka was just too stupid. How the hell had he became a ninja. This question will plague him till he dies and my never find the answer to it.

The perverted cyclops (No brainer, but to avoided confusion this guy is Kakashi) may be an all powerful and respected shinobi, but to the Uchiha, he was a lazy, porno loving, late basted who had only taught them tree climbing, which Sasuke found out that this should have been taught to them before the mission.

Then there was the ever so annoying Haruno, who just could not get threw her thick skull that he was not interested in her. He had no time for silly little dates. He needed to become stronger so he could kill his brother. But no, the pink harried kunoichi still tried her fruitless purist.

Even now as he left after there D rank mission, Sakura was following him like a dog. She was trying to gauge in conversation with him, but was being ignored.

"So ummm Sasuke..." the pink harried blushed, as she stammered out these words.

This is why he was pissed. This was the 100th time she had asked him out today. Sasuke was so annoyed he had actually counted the number times she asked and he rejected.

Well enough's enough; Sasuke had just the thing to keep her out of his hair for a while. The raven headed avenger spun round to face Sakura and said coolly "Sakura, I need to tell you something"

Sakura blushed and thought He_ is finally going to ask me out_ **"CHA, ABOUT TIME!" **cried inner Sakura shaking her fist at him.

Sasuke smirked and said "I'm gay"

Silence. The silence hung in the air as Konoha seemed to slow down. Minutes seemed to drag into hours as Sakura's brain slowly absorbed what she had just heard.

"You're" she said blankly "You're" She repeated her self, not wanting to believe it. "GAY!" she screamed in such a high pitch, screeching voice that cracked glass in Iwa.

Sasuke was momentarily deaf; cursing himself because he had forgot how hard she screamed. But he continued to smirk, and spoke "Yes, no need to yell about it"

Sakura brain flipped into override. He was gay. These words repeated themselves until a horrible thought came to mind. A horrible thought that must not be true.

"Do...You...Like...Naruto?" she said feebly, finding it hard to say each word.

Sasuke smirked _its all going according to plan _"I may be gay but I'm not desperate" His smirk widened in to a smile (Something very unusual and scary) "Though I must admit, he is very cute. A lot cuter than you, I dare say"

He watched the pink harried to see the look in her face.

Again silence. This silence clung onto the air, not just in Konoha, but all the way until Iwa. Even Killer Bee was not raping, Kakashi gigging or Naruto bragging about being Hokage some day.

Sakura's brain was now broken, her mental state in disarray. _Cutter than you. Naruto is cutter than you. _These words were all that left in her broken mind. She turned away from Sasuke, turning completely white. "He's cutter than me" was all she could say and she walked away still repeating those dreadful words.

Sasuke stood their with a rare grin on his face. He continued walking to his home, congratulating himself on his lie. _She actually bought it. She really is dumb. How the hell would I think Naruto is cute_?He shuddered at the thought. As he got closer, he turned a corner to see at least thirty girls.

When they saw him they yelled "**Sasuke we never knew!**" He raised an eyebrow at this _never new what_.

But then his eyes fell on one of the girls shirts.

The avenger then pissed his pants and then began running for his life.

For on the girls shirts read

Konoha Yaoi Club

First the Uchiha was pissed. Now he was scared shitless

**HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA**

**Do you like it? I cernatly did. I will post the next chapter some time after Christmas **

**Until then Bye **


	5. The Excuse of a Pretender

"**Hello people and welcome to my next chapter. I'm sorry for the delay, but I had several problems to do with work and losing my stupid memory stick. Also I have to deal with some of the cast like..."**

"**WELSHSCOT-BASTARD" screamed a certain pink harried bitch and a duck ass avenger as they came in crashing through my door.**

**I look behind me and said "Speak of the devil, literally. So what do you guys want?"**

"**Why have you written me like I'm a bitch" huffed Sakura, her arms folded "And why have you being writing bad stuff against Sasuke-kun?" **

**I sigh and turn away from my computer "First off the reason why I wrote you like that is to fit the story. Plus I don't like you. You're obsessive and loud plus your useless in the first series. True you get better in Shippuden but your character still annoys the hell out of me. Like one of my reviews said your character is very flexible, it's just unfortunate (cough, cough) that this story requires you to be a bitch."**

**I then turned my gaze to Sasuke from a fuming Sasuke and continued "And you, I just don't like you. You're an ass, a jerk, a stupid emo and a bloody prick. You are so stuck up because of your Sharingan and you're too stupid to realize that Itachi could have killed you at anytime. And, when you finally kill him and realize that he was under orders to do it, you blame everyone in the leaf when it was only the fucking council. I am glad that Naruto gives up on you as a brother in my story." **

**Sasuke's eyes turned red and yelled "Yeah and about that stupid baka, why did you make him strong? He's just a bloody idiot!"**

**I laugh "Jealous are you? Well for you information he the star of the show. I know he's thick and needs to grow a brain cell but he still is a great character and a great laugh. And I made him strong because he becomes Hokage, that and I really think he should kick your can around." I turn away from them, back to my computer while saying "Now if you excuse me, I need to write the next chapter."**

"**But..." they said, but then I turn towards them and yell "JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP! YOU BOTH ARE REALLY BEGINNING TO GET ON MY NERVES! STOP YOU'RE BITCHING OR I WILL WRITE A FAN FIC, IN WHICH YOU SASUKE WILL BE MOLESTED BY OROCHIMARU AND KABUTO..." a look of utter fear spread across the avengers face "... AND YOU SAKURA WILL BE..." She then went down on her knees and pleaded "Don't pare me up with Lee! Anything but that!"**

"**NO I WON'T DO THAT BECAUSE LEE IS TOO GOOD FOR YOU. SURE HE IS WEIRD BUT ALL THE BEST CHARACTERS ARE! NO, I WILL RESURRECT SASORI AND HE WILL BEAT YOU UP TO KINGDOM COME. NOW GET OUT OFF HERE NOW!" As I expected, they both left with their tails between their legs. **

**I now sigh and say "Sorry about that, once in awhile I need to remind them I'm the one who's writing the story. By the way, can you suggest a paring for Lee? I am open to slashes and such, but I have made clear of some of the parings in this chapter so no picking one of them. **

**Now I don't own Naruto, if I did then Naruto would be smarter. And now for the fic, thanks for being patient. :)**

The Excuse of a Pretender

_Italics_Dream_

{thinking} Thinking

_**Bold Italics Nightmare**_

Underline-Kyuubi or Demon

Naruto was sitting on his bed, pondering the events of today. After Naruto had killed Mizuki, the blonde had pretended to be shocked at what he had done. Iruka had been fooled by his acting but...

*Flash Back*

They stood in silence, Naruto looking down at the ground while Iruka was looking at the blonde. Finally Iruka asked "So how long".

Naruto knew he was talking about the Kyuubi and lied **"**Two years or so. I went to see the old man at his office, but he wasn't there so I waited for him. I looked around the office and I found a box with my name on it. I looked in the box and found a letter from my father".

Iruka eyes widened in shock "Your father?" Naruto nodded. "Who was he?"

Naruto hesitated, but then decided to tell him the truth. He had to. The box in question was in fact real. His father had left it for him and had asked the 3rd not to give it to him until he became a chunin.

He had only found it when he was having a drink with Tsunadue. The box contained not only a letter, telling him he was an jinjuriki (Already knew thanks to Mizuki-bastard), that his father was the 4th (which he already knew thanks to the battle with Nagato's alter ego Pein) and about his mother, but also chakra exercises on the basics and elemental manipulation and a list of all his father's signature jutsus, like the Rasengan (Already knew that) the summoning jutsu (Also knew that one too) and the flying thunder god (Didn't know that).

Naruto had decided to keep it a secret so he could just build his strength up slowly without people noticing, but because Iruka saw him do the dual stone cutting exercise he need to have an explanation on how he knew and did it. It was after all a jounin level exercise. "My father was Minato Namikaze, the 4th hokage"

Iruka's mouth dropped. "WHAT!" he yelled, inadvertently activating his big head jutsu, which made Naruto cringe as this made Iruka voice amplify and he was standing right next to him.

"OW, JEEZ IRUKA-SENSEI NO NEED TO SHOUT!"

Iruka realized his mistake and apologised "I'm sorry Naruto, but I find it hard to believe... "

But Naruto cut in, "Explain how else I can do a jounin level exercise then"

Iruka looked at Naruto and said "What are you..." Then it hit him. "You mean when you cut those rocks in half"

Naruto nodded and said "Yes, my father left me some chakra exercises to help me be a better shinobi. But back to how I know I am a jinjuriki; the 4th told me in the letter that I was sealed with the nine tails. He said he was sorry for all the pain he must have caused me. He explained it was either that or me and the entire village would be destroyed by the fox. He also told me that about my mother Kushina Uzumaki, what she was like and all the things she liked" Naruto smiled as a genuine tear ran down his cheek "Odd thing is, that one of her favourite things was to eat ramen".

Iruka looked at Naruto with shock and sadness and said "Sorry Naruto. I shouldn't have..."

But Naruto shook his head and said "No it's all right. You were only curious" the blonde wiped the tear of his cheek and continued "At first I was angry at my father, but then decided that he was right" Iruka looked at Naruto and was surprised to see his face so calm and resolute. "If he had not done what he did, none of us would be standing here today. He did his duty as Hokage and I would have done the same. To protect those who I cherish and love" Naruto then sighed and continued "After that I decided to work harder, but not at the academy. I decided to practice the exercises that my father had left me. It was hard at first but I quickly got the hang of some of them like what you saw me do."

Naruto looked up into Iruka's face and saw he was looking at him suspiciously "All that time when you acted like an idiot these pass years was an act wasn't it?"

Naruto nodded "Yeah" Iruka looked at him and said "But why?"

Naruto had his answer "Every time I did something smart they would just ignore me. If I knew the answer to a question they would just pretend my hand wasn't raised. If I did well on a test they would say I cheated. So being the idiot was the only way to get attention at the time"

Iruka nodded, but then frowned "So did you purposely fail the test then"

Naruto looked shocked and quickly replied "No I didn't fail it on purpose, I can't do the clone jutsu" Iruka still looked suspicious "Seriously I can't. I think I've got too much chakra, that's why I could perform so many shadow clones."

Iruka nodded at Naruto logic, something he thought he would never do. "But how about all the pranks you pulled off?" Iruka stated.

Naruto grinned, not his usual foxy grin but a normal one you would see on anybody's face "Well... I just liked to pull pranks. Their fun and it is my way of getting pay back." Iruka look at Naruto and chuckled

"Hey Naruto I've got something for you. Close your eyes"

Flash Back END

Naruto grinned to himself, still sitting on his bed. He had put Iruka's head band away in his bed side table for safe keeping. He thought it was nice seeing the man he consider to be his father. His thoughts then went to think of all his other friends and people he considered family, like Gaara, Neji, Kiba and most importantly Hinata. Naruto sighed as he thought about his love. He really wanted to see her again, but now was not the time.

Naruto then began to think what to do next. He looked at his calendar and got off his bed. He walked over to it and marked the day he was going to be place in team 7.

It was exactly a week away. Naruto then turned his thought for the first time on Sasuke. Naruto knew that he could not just change Sasuke by talking to him. He needed Sasuke to slow down until he discovered what true strength was.

So the blonde decided that he going to stall Sasuke from getting the sharingan. He could easily do that when they went on the wave mission. Naruto knew that he must never let Sasuke get the curse mark from Orochimaru.

But what if he failed? What if he had to fight him again in the valley of the end? Simple. He would kill him. Naruto had long ago stopped thinking Sasuke as a brother so he had no qualms about killing him. Not what after he did. The blonde will have no promises holding him back. At that moment his mind pictured a pink harried girl.

The jinjuriki's anger flared and he punched the calendar, causing a dent in the wall. _{I'll burn that_ _bridge when I come to it_} Naruto thought as he turned on his heels and headed back to his bed.

"_I've_ _got more important things to worry about_" As he put on his pyjamas, he looked over his body and muttered "First things first I'm going to do some work outs" He settled into bed and pondered "And if it's tomorrow I have to take my pictures for my ninja profile, I have to decide what to teach Konohamaru. Because..." He shifted himself into a more comfortable position and began to close his eyes "The sexy jutsu is just wrong...

... my new perverted jutsu is a lot better but is a lot harder to learn."

"_You like Sakura don't you?" _

"_Eh?" Naruto remarked, still looking at the retreating back of Sakura. He was about to set off to report to Kakashi when Sai's question came out of the blue _

"_I read it in a book, people smile around those they love."_

_Naruto turned his head round to gaze at Sai with a bemused expression on his face "Yes they do Sai, but love comes in many forms. I see Sakura as my sister, if anything else. It's more a sibling love" Even if it's one sided_

"_Like you see Sasuke as a brother?" _

_The blonde nodded. He looked up at the sky and sighed "Yeah like Sasuke." He looked back at Sai's and said "I used to like Sakura, but she will always like Sasuke over me."_

_He looked down and sighed "Yeah, why like the dumb fool? Just look for a smart, handsome guy no matter how much of a dick he is."_

_Sai looked and Naruto and gave him one of his emotionless smiles "Don't worry Dick less, you'll find someone. You've got a better chance than me; I can barely feel emotion let alone understand it."_

_Naruto looked at his team mate-ignoring the dick less comment- and retorted with heavy sarcasm and a good old roll of the eyes "Yeah Sai, I mean the civilian girls would really want to go out with the 'demon' their parents told them about and all the kunoichi would really queue up for a chance with the 'dead-last loser '."_

_Naruto's face softened and continued "Sai, you've got loads more of a chance then me. Your strong, have a good sense of common sense, and you're loyal. Sure you can't show, feel or read emotion and you're slightly creepy; but Sakura is helping you and you're making amazing progress and you're not so creepy anymore. Face it, all that is stopping you is that you don't talk to anyone."_

_Sai raised an eyebrow "Was that sarcasm? Never thought you'd use it, there was so much of it even I noticed it. And that bit at the end, when did you become such an expect at relationships"_

_Naruto laughed bitterly "See? People always assume things about me. They judge me for what I was and underestimate me. That's why people will always treat me like I am, an idiot. But I would rather be seen as an idiot if being smart means that I have to break promises and forget about my friends._

_Sai raised an eyebrow. This was the first time he had heard Naruto talk like this. {It seems...} he thought {that deep down inside of him is someone who is serious and calculating. If he is like that, what other things are you hiding, Naruto Uzumaki?}_

_He was interrupted by the sound of breaking pots and much cursing. _

_Naruto and Sai turned around to see a platinum blonde kunoichi bending down, picking up dropped flower pots and various other gardening tools. "Dam it! Stupid dad, trying to load all the heavy lifting on me while he's out, hitting the pub with Shika's dad!"_

_Naruto was about to help, but he stopped to think for a seconded. He looked at Sai and smiled {Heh heh. I think I might try that. If it works I can rub it in his face about how I was right; and if I'm wrong... well he can say he was right.}_

_Naruto then put one hand on Sai's back, leaned into his ear and said "Now's your chance." And he pushed him forwards, straight at Ino. Sai yelped and steadied himself, but not before catching Ino's attention. She looked up at Sai and said "Whoa! Watch were your going"_

_Sai stood still. Naruto sweat dropped {Please don't freeze up. PLEASE DON'T FREEZE UP}._

_Sai took a deep calming breath and said "Sorry about that. I was running too fast and I tripped over a stray rock." He looked down at the mess of pot and tools and asked "What happened here? I didn't make you drop this did I?"_

_Ino shook her head "No. My father usually carries this stuff from the village gate back to our flower shop, but he made up some excuse so mother sent me instead." She looked down and rubbed her forehead "Kami this stuff is heavy. Even for a ninja I'm surprised that dad could carry all of this."_

_Sai then smiled- not his eerie smile, but a normal smile- and asked "Do you need any help?"_

_Ino looked up at him eagerly and nodded "Yes please I..." But then she looked deflated "Wait...no I really don't want to bother you."_

_But Sai just bent down while replying "It's no problem at all. Anything to help a fine lady like you." _

"_Oh." She blushed at the complement "Well... if you insist" And she then joined Sai in gathering all the none-broken pots and tools._

_As the both reached for the last tool their hands touched and Naruto saw the blush on Ino's face and the small crimson blotch that appeared on Sai's cheek. It wasn't a full blush, but it was a start._

_As they both straitened up, their arms filled with luggage, Ino then gave Sai a small peck on the cheek "Thanks a lot. I'm Ino by the way"_

"_Sai" he replied, the crimson blotch spreading all over his cheek "It's a pleasure to meet you Ino-san." And with that they walked off, side by side carrying the immense load._

_Naruto watched this seen and mentally whooped_

**{**_Matchmaking Jinjuriki: 1._

_Newly appointed artistic boyfriend: 0.}_

"_Newly appointed Dick less Jinjuriki boyfriend: 1_

_Experienced Artistic Lover: 1"_

_Naruto grinned sheepishly at Sai's comment while holding the soft hand of Hinata Hyuga._

_They were standing in front of the southern gate of Konoha, Ino and Sai-who were holding hands since they have been an item for at least two years now- and the lavender eyed heiress had come to greet Naruto home from a training trip to Kumo and Suna. _

_It had been two years since the defeat of Pein and also Madara's declaration of the fourth great ninja war. In that time span, Naruto had been shipped off to Kumo to learn how to control the Nine Tail Fox. He had been expected to return a year ago-by this time Naruto was supposed to have mastered his tenant- but for some unknown reason, Naruto insisted that he spent one more year in the sand village. _

_When Naruto appeared on the road to the village he was immediately spotted by the welcoming trio. Ino and Sai were about to say hi, when Hinata just bolted out and glomped Naruto, pulling him into a fierce kiss._

_This surprised Ino to no end; while Sai only stood there and smiled. _

"_First off" the blonde ninja stated, still holding Hinata's hand "I'm not dick less, secondly we have been going out before I left and last, but not least when were you experienced?"_

_They all laughed, even Hinata was joining in, not hovering in the back ground but joining in the action. _

"_Well I must say" stated Ino "I never really knew Hinata was that forward." _

"_Nor did I" replied the heiress-completely avoid of stuttering-"But I just couldn't wait to see you again." She then kissed Naruto on the lips and Naruto returned it, deepening the kiss. _

"_Sorry to interrupt, but me and my girl friend and I would like to know when you guys became an item" butted in Sai._

_Naruto and Hinata broke apart and gave both off them the evils. "What?" reapplied the platinum blonde "Were curious to know the details!"_

_Hinata sighed, "Ok Ino" She then turned to Naruto "Later?"_

_He grinned, "Definitely" and gave her a peck on the cheek._

_He then turned around to face the others "Well you remember what happened during the invasion?"_

_Sai and Ino both nodded. "Well you also remember when I came back from facing Pein?" _

_Ino strained her face to remember, but Sai then quickly butted in "Yeah, when all the villagers threw you in the air and when Sakura tried to hug you."_

_Ino face showed recognition "Yeah, she tried to punch you first but you dodged so she hit Kakashi instead, knocking him out cold." Then she looked puzzled again "But right after that the other's started throwing you in the air." She then bit her lip in concentration "Well except for Hinata who just vanished." _

_Sai then had a big 'oh' on his face- it appears that two years with Ino finally managed to crack the barrier of Sai's emotion problem- "That was a shadow clone wasn't it?"_

_Naruto nodded "I wanted to speak to Hinata in private, so she and me when to the only place that was not ruined, the hokage faces."_

_Hinata then joined "There I told him about how I always had liked him and believed in him." She looked down at the ground, with a little sadness in her eyes "He did not respond at first and I thought he had rejected me and so I started mumbling about how I was so sorry for being selfish and was about to leave when..." her face brightened up as she looked up at her audience of two who were listening with rapped attention "he practically swept me off my feet and kissed me in the light of the sun set" She starred off into space dreamily "I will never forget it"_

"_And nor shall I my little sunshine" (*1) he muttered into her ear, causing her to blush and giggle._

"_So after that" Naruto continued "We started hanging around with each other, since we couldn't go on a date with the village destroyed. But then as you know those Kumo ninjas came and so on and so forth, I had to leave for my training trip. But thanks to my new toad buddy called Kaede, I managed to keep in contact with her all this time." _

_Ino smiled "I thought you'd never notice that Hinata has the hots for you." _

_Sai nodded "Ditto. By the way Naruto, why did you head to Suna after your training with Killer Bee-san?" _

_Naruto sighed and replied "Well if you want to know, why don't you ask pineapple head over there" And pointed behind Ino and Sai at a black harried ninja who was wearing a Jounin vest._

"_Why did you bring me into this Naruto? So troublesome." Said Shikamaru in an exasperated tone, but on his face was a smile which read 'welcome back'._

_He then walked out of the shadows into the light and headed straight for Naruto. He passed Ino and Sai and stopped in front of the blonde and the lavender eyed girl that was still clinging to his arm. He looked into Naruto face and asked "First off before I begin this bothersome explanation; news?_

_Naruto grinned "Good or Bad"_

"_Good"_

_Ino, Sai and Hinata watched then, wondering what the news was._

"_It's a boy"_

_It took a few moments before those words sunk in. Ino looked confused while light bulbs began appearing over Hinata's and Sai head, both flashing bright yellow lights in understanding. But then Sai's went out abruptly causing him to look up and frown "Welsh! Light please!" _

_(A/N I sigh "Ok! Stupid clapper mechanism" I muttered before clapping my hands twice)_

_His light bulb turned on again and he gave me the thumbs up. "Thanks Welsh!"_

"_Err, Sai? Who the hell is Welsh?" asked Naruto and the others, giving him a funny perplexed look._

"_Err... Never mind, So Shika..." He turned to face the lazy boy "How come we weren't invited to the wedding?" _

_Ino looked at Sai like he was crazy "What the hell are you..." But then her light bulb clicked. She looked at the Shika's hand and saw the faint trace of where a tight band or ring was once was on his ring finger._

"_YOU MARRIED TEMARI!" She screeched, causing everyone in the area to cringe. _

_Shikamaru was the first to recover and sighed "You had to blab Naruto. Yes we have been married for at least eleven months now. I had to do it in secret due to her brothers, her suitors and Tsunade. Gaara was fine when he found out but Kankuro went nuts. I was almost at the receiving end of his Iron Maiden move, but Naruto saved my ass."_

_Naruto rubbed a spot on his shoulder "Damn straight, he nailed me with so much poison if Gaara hadn't sent that puppet boy flying or if foxy hadn't healed me, I would be a walking pincushion. And let's not forget the suitors; love sick bastards would have killed me if Baki-sensei hadn't taught me Wind Sword."_

_Shikamaru nodded "Yeah, one of them was a samurai from the land of Tea, that blonde basted killed all the others and would have got me too if Naruto hadn't learned that jutsu"_

_Ino looked puzzled at this "Baki-sensei? Wasn't he the one who trained Gaara and his siblings?"_

"_Yep." replied the blonde "He was the best wind jutsu expect in the sand besides from Temari, but she was married and was having a baby. He taught me not only wind sword but also a vast verity of ranged jutsus as well. Here, watch."_

_Naruto then walked over to a tree and faced it and stretched his arm out to the side. He crossed his thumb over his palm and cried out "Wind Sword." Wind chakra then appeared out of no were and coiled lovingly around his hand. He then did several slashing movements at the tree, cutting it in to pieces._

_Then he jumped back, going thru hand signs and when he landed he puffed out his chest and cried "Vacuum Bullets"._

_The balls of air rushed out of his mouth and flew towards the segments of the trees and blasted them to ash. Naruto grinned and said "Also it turns out that I have a secondary affinity that's earth, and lucky me that Gaara's girlfriend Matsuri has that certain element in the bag" and with that he slammed his hand on the ground and yelled "Earth style: Mud Wall Jutsu" _

_A wall of mud rose out of the ground in front of Naruto which rose until it was at least several feet high. Naruto then readied himself into a shuriken stance, crossing his arms out in front of his face and making sure his fingers were apart._

_Naruto was so absorbed into his display he failed to notice that several Jounin, Chunin and villagers had gathered around to watch this awesome display of power._

_He continued on his expectation with a big grin on his face "But what I am most proud of from this training is that I have made a new, no hand sign required jutsu" He then closed his eyes and began to focus. More wind chakra began forming, this time in-between his fingers._

_They began to swirl and form into the shapes of shuriken. Naruto opened his eyes and looked at the wall of mud before him. He jumped into the air and yelled "Wind Style: Wind Shuriken" _

_He then, in mid air, began flexing his wrist outwards and the shuriken then flew out from between his fingers. The shuriken hit the wall, and then came out the other side. There were now six shuriken shaped holes in the wall. _

_But Naruto was not finished. As soon as the first batch left his hands another bunch began taking its place. He flexed his writs again and the newly made shuriken followed the first. Then another volley and another, and another._

_Soon there were thousands of holes in the mud wall, the said wall almost on the verge of collapse. Naruto landed on the ground and admired his handy work. He then clicked his fingers, and the whole wall came tumbling down, the rubble falling at his feet._

_He turned around and was startled to see so many people. They just stood and stared. And then the crowd clapped and cheered, all crying out "That was awesome!" "Madara has no chance" "Way to go Naruto-senpai"_

_Naruto grinned and scratched his head. Hinata came out of the crowd and pulled him into a hug "That was amazing Naruto-Kun" _

_Naruto smiled and kiss her on the cheek "Not as amazing as you are Hinata-Chan" _

_She blushed and kisses him back on the lips and whispered "Ino and the others are heading to the ramen stand. They are waiting for us. Ino still wants to hear your story about what happed in Suna and Shika wants to know the bad news"_

_Naruto nodded and together, he and Hinata rush thru the crowd of new Naruto fans and admires, and made their way to the ramen stand were an impatient blonde, a lazy genius and an also impatient artist wait for their arrival._

"_There you are!" moaned Ino, her arms crossed "Sorry to bale, but Shika doesn't want to talk about..." she looked around to see if anyone was eves dropping "...that thing that happened in the sand to spread around at the moment. Any way why didn't you tell us earlier about... that thing? I mean I know you were far away but you could have told Hinata about it, so why didn't you?"_

_Naruto scratched the back of his head, his old habit if he was nervous, and replied "Well I was going to tell Hinata, but Shika asked me not to. I did so, on one condition" _

"_And that was?" inquired Sai. _

"_He'd teach me how to play shogi"_

_Ino looked dumbstruck and Sai raised an eyebrow "Teach you how to play shogi? But everyone knows how to play shogi!" _

_Naruto bit his lip "Well... I never had someone to play it with me when I was younger..." Sai mentally hit himself. He forgot about Naruto's childhood, how he was always on his own. Of course he never plaid shogi._

"_... and I wanted to find a hobby I could do in my free time and shogi seemed to be the best option at the time." _

_Shika then butted in "Yes and you weren't as bad as I thought you'd be. You beat Gaara and Baki at it, quite skilfully if I might add."_

_Naruto laughed "Yeah, but I fail to beat you at it."_

_Shikamaru smirked "True and I look forward to the day you beat me. That is if you ever do."_

_Naruto grinned and boasted "I will beat you Shika, even if I grow old with age and the last thing I ever do is defeat you at your own game."_

_Ino then butted in "Yes, yes but what's the bad news that you were going to tell Shika."_

_At this Shika tensed, his ears primed for listening. "Well..." Naruto began, trying to look solemn "... the bad news is..."_

_Time froze still as the moment passed; no sound was made as the moment dragged into what felt like hours. Shika preparing for the worst, Ino clutching Sai's hand and Hinata looking at Naruto with anticipation and dread on her face._

"_...he's blond"_

_Ino looked enraged, Sail looked annoyed and Hinata punched Naruto's shoulder "NARUTO" She and Ino yelled "WHAT WAS THE POINT IN THE SUSPENSE YOU IDIOT"_

_Shika however slapped his forehead and muttered "Dam that's troublesome." Sai looked at him perplexed "Why is that troublesome?"_

"_Because all the blondes I know are troublesome." He pointed at Ino "She screeches at me and wakes me up all the time" he pointed at Naruto "He is an idiot who keeps telling me to work and focus and he was loud as hell back in the day" he then pointed at Hokage tower "Tsunade keeps giving me work" and then he pointed in the direction of Suna "And finally that iterating samurai who tried to shish kebab me. Also there's Temari but she is worth the hassle. So now I face the predicament of having my son annoying me 24/7. I just hope he inherits my brains or I'm doomed" _

_He then heard a faint popping noise and turned to see Naruto placing a note in the mouth off a yellow summing toad. "What are you doing?" _

_Naruto grinned and looked up "I'm writing out what you just said so Temari knows how you feel about the baby. Kaede, here is just about to leave for Suna. He is very fast at delving messages so Temari should know how you feel in about... 10 minutes." _

_Shika paled "Please. Don't. Send. It."_

_Naruto gave a flash of his foxy grin "And if I don't?"_

_Shika looked at the ramen stand they were standing beside "I will pay for your ramen for a year." _

_Naruto gave a mock "I'm considering it" face and said in the about the same manner "Maaabbbyyyeee..." _

"_Two years" Naruto nodded and said "Deal" and with that he plucked the note out of Kaede's mouth and tore it into pieces. _

_Sai and the others laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed and..._

_**Naruto burst out of the academy wall as he chased after Sakura, his eyes crying for the pink bitch's blood. She fled the scene at top speed, but Naruto was gaining fast. He splayed his fingers and yelled "Wind Shuriken" and threw them at the retreating bitches back. It hit her mid jump, causing her to scream in pain and fall head first towards the pavement.**_

_**Naruto landed on a roof top as he saw Ino catching the traitor before she hit the ground "Sakura, what happened? What hit you? And why were you running?" the blonde girl asked, completely oblivious about what the girl she just saved had done. Naruto yelled out to Ino "Ino! Watch out!"**_

_**Ino looked up at Naruto and asked "What do you..." but her next words were drowned as Sakura grabbed her from behind and snapping her neck. Naruto roared in anger and leapt down from the roof and aimed a kick at Sakura's head; who dogged it by back flipping out the way.**_

_**At that moment Sai exited out the building calling "Ino, what's taking so l..." but then his eyes saw Ino's body lying on the ground, blood oozing out her nose. He looked up at Sakura, giving her a look of venomous hatred and roared "How could you? She was your friend!"**_

_**Sakura looked at Sai and said "No. All she was to me was a rival for Sasuke-Kun's love. Now that love will soon be mine"**_

_**Naruto balled his fists "You bloody bitch! How could you love him after what he did?" Images ran thru Naruto mind. Shino's broken glasses**____**crushed into a puddle of mud, Akamaru howling over the body of his best friend, Temari crying with a bloody bundle in her arms and Gaara who was kneeling on the floor, his sand armour nothing more than mud dripping from his face as he wept over Matsuri's body "DON'T THEY MEAN ANYTHING TO YOU!" He bellowed, his eyes glowing blood red. **_

"_**I don't care." She sneered at them "Those people should have just bowed down to him..." She then turned towards Sai, throwing a paper bomb at his face "... just like you will before he kills you, you stupid demon"**_

_**Sai tried to evade the bomb but the resulting explosion was too strong. The shockwave**____**sent him flying into the building he came out of and also bought down said building around Sai's ears.**_

_**Naruto saw this and rushed to his friends aid, while Sakura began leaping towards the southern village gate. Naruto quickly crossed his thumbs over each of his hands palms while thinking "Wind Sword" and began cutting the rubble into piece. He soon found Sai, his face badly burnt and his left arm has been crushed by the falling debris.**_

_**Naruto knelt down beside Sai and tried to lift the rubble of him, but Sai's voice croaked "Don't bother. Even if you got it off I wouldn't have the will to fight."**_

_**Naruto stopped and looked down at Sai's burnt face "I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I failed Ino. If I had been faster I could have stopped her." Naruto clenched his fist and the yelled "DAMN IT" and punched the ground with all his might. "WHY!" he yelled, anger flashing on his face "WHY DO ALL THE PEOPLE I CONSIDER MY BROTHER OR SISTER BETRAY ME! WHY DOES EVERYONE I CARE ABOUT DIE WHEN I COULD HAVE SAVED THEM!" And he punched the ground again, red chakra bursting out of his body.**_

"_**That's it brat! Give into your anger and use my power! Avenge all who have fallen and finally crush those insects you called siblings of the face of the planet!"**_

_**Naruto stood there, his fist connected to the ground. Finally, after what seemed hours, the red chakra dissipated and he stood up and thought "**__No fox. Like I said all those years ago, I will not rely on your power to see me through. I have my own strength and besides... I want to kill those two myself._

_**And with that he knelt back down to Sai; who was slowing leaving this life and whispered "Sai I..."**_

_**But he raised his only arm to silence him and asked "Please Naruto. Let me talk. These are my last words, and I wish to share them with you." **_

_**Naruto nodded and leaned in closed to hear his last words "Before I met you..." Sai then coughed blood, his face turning ghostly pale. Despite that he pressed on "... I was nothing more than a tool, a weapon for Danzo to use as he saw fit. But thanks to you..." He coughed again, more blood this time and it was clear his time was almost over. "...you showed me the wonders of friendship, and the strength that is born from it. You showed me the power of never giving up; and more importantly..." He then smiled, a true smile full of emotions of happiness and gratefulness "...you introduced me to Ino, you help show me what love was like and so..." his eye began to flutter, he was seconds away from his fate "...I am proud... to call you..." His eyes closed, but not just before he whispered his last words "... my hokage".**_

_**Naruto stayed there, knelling down next to one of his true friends and a tear ran down his face. But he then wiped away that tear and stood up, his face set with grim determination and promised "Sai..." he looked over at Ino "...Ino..." He then looked at the direction were Sakura went "... everyone. I promise you all..."He then pulled out his signature weapons, his Hiraishin shuriken and roared "...I WILL KILL SASUKE AND SAKURA FOR WHAT THEY DID TO YOU!" And with that he leapt after Sakura, the pure murder back in his eyes. **_

_**And as he leapt from building to building his thoughts then turned to Hinata, who was spreading the word of the invasion, and he said aloud "Hinata... If we both survive this... then my answer is yes." **_

_**As he landed on a rooftop that overlooked the southern gate, blood seeped out from the floor of the roof and started spreading all over Naruto. He yelled in shock and tried to struggle, but the blood had quickly covered his entire body, preventing him from moving. Then another pillar of blood rose from the rooftop floor and it then moulded itself into the form of Sasuke, who was grinning like a mad man.**_

"_**This..." it cooed, in a demonic voice "... is all your fault. You should have realised her betrayal and acted. But you didn't, and because of it all your friends are dead. And for that..." It then plunged a hand into its own chest and pulled out a sword that was similar to Sasuke's "...you must pay the ultimate prise!" and he brought the sword down upon Naruto head.**_

Naruto jerked awake, sweat upon his brow and breathing heavily. He then took a deep breath and exhaled. The dream _(or nightmare) _had been so real he was half expecting the 'bloody' Sasuke to appear out of nowhere and claim his head. He lowered his face to the mattress pondering.

_So these are these are the nightmare that will plague me eh? _He looked up, his chin held high and smirked _Well if that's it then I'm disappointed. These nightmares need to improve if they want to wear me down. _

He looked up at the time (which was five o'clock in the morning) and stated "Well I think it's time to begin my training. Need to be strong if I want to change what happened at the bridge." He then rushed over to his wardrobe and opened it, reviling another orange jumpsuit.

"After I've done enough training and helped Konohamaru..." he exclaimed, as he pulled on his attire "... I am going to buy some new clothes and visit Hinata while I'm at it." After he finished getting dressed he hurried towards the door, deciding not to have ramen now but later. As he opened the door he looked back at his untidy apartment, which had instant ramen cups all over the floor along with dust bunnies and the like. "And also clear up this mess. I can't believe I lived like a pig!" And with that, he slammed the door.

**A/N**

**I look at the clapper device and pull out a shuriken and sniffed it "Smells like cherry blossoms. It's Sakura, damn that bitch. I swear I'm going to make Naruto make her life hell. More then I originally planned anyway" I realize you're watching me and stood up straight.**

"**Oh sorry about that. Just checking the bloody clapper machine. Turns out that the banshee threw a shuriken at it when I wasn't looking. Anyway, just to clear some things up (1*). Hinata's name is "Towards a sunny place" in English so that's why Naruto calls her sunshine, just in case you didn't know. **

**Also I did make some changes to the manga story like that conversation with Sai about if Naruto like Sakura or not. It's a scene from the manga and maybe the anime. Sakura didn't 'confess' to Naruto so he never met Sasuke and had that "One of use will die" speech. **

**Also the nightmare bits are not in order, due to story reasons. I can tell you that Iruka's death nightmare is the second part of that day and Sai and Ino's death are the third. May write out an A/N on when each nightmare take place to avoid confusion. **

**If any of you have any questions, mention it in the review along with good views or bad, I really need the feedback. So anyway good night" I then head towards my bedroom, open the door and looked inside. I stood there, stunned at what I saw. I quickly close the door and then tried to calm myself with deep breaths. That didn't work because I soon banged on the door and yelled "JUST BECAUSE I MADE YOU A COUPLE DOESN'T MEAN YOU CAN USE MY ROOM FOR A FRICKIN QUICKIE!"**

**I waited patiently for them to emerge from my room, Naruto hair was slightly ruffled and Hinata had her head band the wrong way round and was blushing furiously. "Ok first off, don't use my room ever again and also thanks to you now I have to raise the rating up to M."**

"**Weren't you planning to do that anyway Welsh-Sama?" asked Hinata. "Yes, but now I have to do it earlier. Oh yeah and remember Hinata, you need to practice being open for this fic, I don't plan for you to be shy and quiet forever." She nodded. "Good, now if you please excuse me I need to go to bed." I brushed past them, "Good night to you and all you readers" and with that I shut the door**. ____


	6. The Training of a Fox and a Gaki

**A/N "Hello my readers and welcome to my fic" I took a sip off my coffee after I finished speaking and continued "I know it didn't take me long to update but I was already writing this chapter when I published my last one. I just finished it now in fact. Lucky for me the cast has been really cooperative, even Sasuke and Sakura. Now that I think about it..."**

**I bit my lip and put down my coffee on my desk as I stood up, looking around as I did so "...I haven't seen Sasuke or Sakura since I gave them a piece of my mind." I shrugged "Meh, whatever it's not like they star much yet. Anyway..." **

**I pick up my coffee and took a swig, wandering why it tasted odd, before bursting into my explanation "... I want to say thanks for the reviews; I really appreciate the feedback and about me needing medication, I'm already am."**

**I grin and take another swig. "Now about the question that asked was it Shikamaru or his son who got killed by Sasuke... it was his son. Yeah I know, heartless aren't I? I hated doing that but I needed a strong reason why Naruto gave Sasuke up as a brother. Also please note that I take no pleasure in killing the characters (Except Sakura, Sasuke and Mizuki) but I need to stress the point that Naruto is really torn up by their deaths. And trust me; the amount of times they complain about their deaths is really irritating"**

**I took another swig, remembering how Tsunade reacted at her death and nearly killed me. I shuddered, mentally thanking Shika for saving my but. "Anyway, about the ideas for Lee, I decided to pair him with Ayame so thank you Mental Panda and so this chap is dedicated to you. Also while I'm at it, I dedicate the last chapters to my bud CJaMes12 for helping me with punctuation and grammar. If any of you are Case closed or Detective Conan readers then she's got a fic called "The Sign of Whats to Come" you might want to read. **

**And please, if any of you want to see a couple just review and I will consider. However, these people have already been parried: Ino, Sai, Naruto (Obviously), Hinata (Also Obvious), Lee, Ayame, Neji and Tenten. No harem ideas please. **

**And Dragon Man 180, if you're reading then thanks for the suggestions. I like your ideas so I might work with some of them. And just remember, ****I DON'T OWN NARUTO OR ANY OTHER ANIME AND THEY ALL BELONG TO THEIR RIGHTFUL OWNERS. ****Now please enjoy the chapter!" I took another sip, wondering again why it tasted weird, until I noticed a note stuck to the bottom of my mug. **

**I pulled it off with my other hand and read it "Dear Welshscot-bastard, I hate you so much for how you write me bla, bla, bla. I am not a bitch bla, bla, bla. From Sakura, Ps I went in your... coffee." I looked at the last line, then at my mug and back again before gagging and spluttering "WTF!"**

Training of a Fox and a Gaki

Naruto collapsed in a random training ground. It was seven in the morning and Naruto had just finished a very gruelling work out which evolved running around the village 500 times, 150 push ups, sit ups, squats and various over exercises. Naruto began cursing Guy under his breath for getting him into this routine. In the future he had worked out with bushy brows and Guy every morning and evening so he could be in peak fitness to face the Uchiha.

As Naruto began feeling his limbs again he reminded himself that he needed to be in top condition when he faced Haku and his demon sensei, Zabuza.

Naruto got up gingerly and decided to take five.

He sat down by a tree and pulled out a pen and a piece of paper and began to draw the training ground. Naruto had started drawing as a way to help him keep calm and to test his imagination. Sai had suggested it to him after Naruto had a fit about losing to Shikamaru for the umpteenth time and showed him some basic techniques. It was nice to have a true hobby for a change that he could do anywhere.

After 5 minutes he put his drawing away and marched into the middle of the training ground. He summoned some clones and ordered them to attack.

He spent the next half an hour practicing his taijutsu. His style was a mix of Guy's strong fist, Jiraiya's personal style and the style the Toads had taught him. It was a mix of countering and charges with a strong defence and a bone breaking attack. It came easily to him but the more advance attacks would need time before he could re- master them.

After finishing off the last clone with an uppercut, Naruto then decided to test his jutsus. He looked at a tree and performed some hand signs at the speed of light and bellowed**"Wind Style: Air Bullet Jutsu**."

The result was that Naruto exhaled a perfectly shaped bullet of wind. It cut the tree in half and it fell towards Naruto. He swore and performed more hand sigs saying **"Earth Style: Mud Wall Jutsu" **and placed his hand on the ground. A wall of mud rose up and stopped the tree in its tracks.

Naruto once more made more hand signs and yelled in his mind **"Fire style: Fire Ball Jutsu" **But instead of a fire ball, flames came out and burned the tree.

Unfortunately for the blonde, the flames seared his mouth as they exited. He yelled in pain and ran quickly into the forest surrounding the training area.

He quickly found the stream and put his head in it. His face now dripping wet was also showing annoyance. "Looks like I need to work on my fire manipulation." He said out loud to no one in particular. "My wind and earth are fine thanks to the amount of training I did last night. Even though they were only C rank it was a good sign."

Naruto dried his face and dedicated the next hour practicing with his shadow clones his fire manipulation. An hour later Naruto gave up and decided to practice it later, due to the fact that his burn was now throbbing painfully. He knew it would take time to heal, so he decided to have a little rest.

He lay down by the river side and daydreamed about the happiest times of his life. Like when Iruka had given him his head band, when he had won his match against Neji and the whole crowd cheered, The first time he kissed Hinata on top of Hokage Mountain and the time Konohamaru had given him his present for becoming Hokage.

_Naruto was sitting in his chair facing the window in the Hokage's office when the door burst open revealing Konohamaru and his team. "Hey boss" Naruto swivelled in his chair to face the young Genin "Is it true?" he demanded. _

_Naruto looked thoughtful for a moment "If it's that I have slept with Hinata, no. If it's that have I beaten Shikamaru in shogi, also no but I'm close damn it!" As he said this he stood up and walked around the desk. He stopped right in front of and said while smiling "If it's have I become Hokage, then hell yes". _

_Konohamaru pretended to be hurt and said "What about our promise to fight over the Hokage ship" Naruto saw through this and ruffled the younger version of him self's hair saying "Well now if you do defeat me then becoming Hokage will be a given"_

_Konohamaru grinned at this "Guess your right boss." He then turned to his team mates and said "We got something to give to you, right guys" _

_They both nodded and the one called Udon pulled out a scroll and place it on the ground. "What is it?" Naruto said giving the scroll an evil eye._

"_You'll see" Konohamaru said giving Naruto no reassurance. He would not put it past them to prank him. Udon then un-sealed the scroll to revile a coat, "Surprise" they all chimed, Udon packing away the scroll while Moegi picked it up and gave it to him._

_Naruto realised it was his fathers coat, except that instead of the 4__th__ it now read the 6__th (*1)__on the back and just above it where a persons shoulder blades would stick out was a pattern of a big red shuriken, obviously portraying his new nickname "fox shuriken". He put it on and looked down at it. It fitted perfectly._

"_I found it when this was grandpas office" Konohamaru explained looking at Naruto to see if his friend liked it "I've had it for years and I heard when we came back you were Hokage. I wanted to give you a present to congratulate you so I found it in my attic, I asked Moegi and Hanabi to stitch the patterns on and Udon packed it in to the scroll" He looked down at his feet and added sheepishly "But if you don't want it it's..."_

_He was interrupted as their new Hokage pulled him and his friends into a bear hug. "Thanks guys, I appreciate it." He said while crushing the wind out of them._

_He noticed this and let go. As the genin collapsed due to low oxygen; the blonde asked "So Hanabi eh? I knew you liked her"_

_Konohamaru recovered first and protested while blushing "Boss"_

_**Konohamaru leaped in front of Guy as the purpled eyed, shark faced guy named Suigetsu tried to spear Guy through the gut.**_

_**The leaf's green beast of battle watched as Konohamaru received the blown meant for him, blood oozing out of the wound. Guy was horrified "NO KONOHAMARU!" the combined shout of Naruto and Guy was heard, even above the din of the battle.**_

_**Konohamaru craned his neck round to look at Guy "Sorry" he said meekly as his life came rushing to a close "I know you promised Naruto to protect me..." he coughed out blood as he struggled to continue "But your stronger than me, you can beat this guy and his blue skinned walking sushi of a partner" He smiled at him and said "I'll send your love to your student's when I meet them" **_

_**Suigetsu, bored at this point, threw Konohamaru off his sword. Naruto ran forward, his Wind Sword at the ready. The blonde charged the sound ninja that were in his way and tore them to pieces; their screams of pain and horror were lost in the sound of battle. After the last ninja fell to Naruto hands; he continued his sprint and barely managed to catch Konohamaru before he hit the ground. **_

_**Konohamaru smiled and muttered "Bye boss... It's a pity ...I'll never take your hat from you... like I promised" He coughed out more blooded, struggling to keep his eyes open and his final word then escaped his lips "I coming Grandpa... Udon" his eyes flicker "Moegi..." his eyes closed and he smiled and whispered "Hanabi" and he breathed no more.**_

Naruto woke with a start, sweat and tears trickling all over his face. He was breathing heavily. He wiped his face and told him self "No that won't happen, that was just a bad dream of a bad memory"

He looked up into the sky and he saw the sun. Judging by its position in the sky it was mid day. And the photo shot was at mid day. "Dam, I'm late!" Naruto roared in angry.

Naruto sprang to his feet and began running, knowing full well it was going to miss it. {_Oh well, at least the burn is gone}_ He was answered by a throb _{...Or maybe not.} _He sighed, hoping that he being late would not change much of the time line.

Naruto was sitting in the Hokage's office, on a chair right in front of the desk.

The blonde looked at the 3rd trying not to show emotion. Naruto had trouble keeping his emotions in check when he saw Iruka, now he was looking at the man who had helped him through his child hood, the man who had died to keep the village safe from the snake basted.

"Naruto, why were you late for the photo shoot?" sighed the 3rd as he looked up at the blonde from his paperwork.

"Sorry old man, I fell asleep while training" the blonde replied.

Sarutobi sighed "Well don't be late tomorrow. Besides that's not why I asked you to come here." The 3rd looked at Naruto with concern. "I wanted to talk to you about Mizuki"

In the blonde's head, he sighed {_Damn, should have known this would come up. I did kind of manage to distract Iruka with 'I'm the 4__th__'s son and 'I not really an idiot'.}_

Naruto pretended to look a bit uncomfortable before replying "I'm fine old man, don't worry about me"

The 3rd waited for the usual cry of 'believe it' but it never came "Are you sure" the hokage inquired "You don't seem your usual self"

Naruto nodded "Yes, I feel fine. I was at the time really torn up (hell I was) but then I remembered Iruka's lecture about how in the shinobi career we would end up killing and that it would be something that you would never get used to and told us ways that might help get over it. So I decided to do the basic thing, think about what would have happened if you didn't do it. So I figured if I hadn't killed him he would have killed me and Iruka sensei and..."

Naruto stopped to see a surprised hokage staring at him

"Ok. Firstly, when did you ever pay attention to Iruka? Secondly, why have you not said all your usual sayings?"

Naruto looked confused "Eh?"

"You know like believe it or dattebayo"

Naruto bit his lip {_crap; I forget I used to do that. But hell, no way am I saying those things again} _

"Well since I'm a Ninja now I have to stop saying childish things like that and truth be told, I really hated saying those things." Naruto frowned "Iruka did tell you that the whole idiot thing was fake right?"

Sarutobi looked taken aback "Yes he did, but I really didn't believe it..." Naruto growled in anger "But now I do" the old man said in a hurry "I'm sorry for doubting you but..."

Naruto stood up in pretend anger, well pretended to him but to the 3rd he looked really furious, thinking as he did so.

He couldn't change his personality too drastically, so... "Ok old man you're asking for it" Naruto then put his hand together

_Oh no, not the sexy jutsu_the old man thought, sweat dropping franticly. But he was surprised that instead of transforming, the blonde did some hand seals, and then pointed at the hokage shouting **Genjutsu: Perverts Dream**

(**A/N Due to the fact I'm not perverted, I am not describing what the old man is seeing. Mental note: this jutsu shows the victim the images of... I'll leave that to your imagination ;)**

After the display (A/N cough cough porno show cough cough) the 3rd was flat on the floor, blood flowing out of his eyes and his nose. It took him five minutes to get off the floor and it took him another ten to wipe the blood off his face.

As he finished he growled "NEVER...DO...THAT...AGAIN!" as he finished he blasted killing intent so strong Naruto had to stop himself pissing his pants

"Y-yes H-hokage-s-sama" the blonde stuttered.

At that moment, the door opened and Konohamaru, wearing his usually attire came charging in, brandishing a shuriken yelling "Old man I chall UGH" he then tripped up on his scarf and landed face first at Naruto's feet.

Just then Ebisu came rushing in saying in a loud, pompous voice "Honorable Grandson, are you hurt?"

The said grandson stood up and pointed at Naruto and yelled "You tripped me up didn't you!"

The blonde then grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and yelled "You tripped up on your own feet gaki." (A/N Gaki means brat)

Even though it was great to see Konohamaru; Naruto remembered how much of a brat the boy was before he taught him.

"Take your hands off him." Ebisu yelled in a high pitched, annoying voice "He is the Honorable Grandson of the 3rd ..."

"I don't care if he's the Grandson of Kami!" shouted Naruto, and then smacked Konohamaru head towards the ground.

Naruto didn't want to hurt the kid, but this was the only way to get him to follow him. He turned towards the old man, ignoring Ebisu who was gawking and looking scandalized, and said "Sorry old man, but he had it coming to him."

He then walked past Ebisu, who was still gawking like an idiot, towards the door but before he left he said "_Oh and yes I took the exercise and the kunai_. Goodbye old man." And with that he left.

The 3rd wondered what he meant, until it came to him and he mentally hit his fore head, thinking

{Of_ course, that was the other reason I called him here}_

The professor then bent down under his desk and pulled out the secret compartment, ignoring Ebisu's rant at his nephew. He looked in side and sure enough, the box, the letters and the three pronged kunai were gone.

All that was left was the 3rd's collection of 'research' and books from his white harried pupil. {_So he did indeed toke them}. _A thought struck him_ {doses he know about my collection?} _

He was interrupted from his thoughts by Ebisu's shrieking "WHERE'S THE HONORABLE GRANDSON!"

The 3rd put the compartment back into its proper place and looked up at Ebisu replying "Maybe he went after Naruto"

"WHAT!" the Jounin screamed "THIS IS A DISASTER! HONORABLE GRANDSON!" And with that he ran out the door.

_{__Well at least he is gone} _the old man thought {_Naruto wouldn't teach Konohamaru something really bad. Would he?}_

Sweat trickled down his forehead as a terrifying thought came to him {_NO! PLEASE DON'T TEACH HIM PERVERTS DREAM! KAMI ANYTHING, ANYTHING BUT THAT!}_

Naruto turned on his heels like he did so many years ago... well for him it was years ago, while technically he was doing it for the first time... and yelled the exact same words " I now that you're following me so give it up. That's so obvious it's pathetic."

Konohamaru lowered the camouflage; if you could call it that with his hair and hands poking up from the top. He snickered "Saw through my disguise eh? The rumors about you are true, you're good"

He then dropped the camouflage and scurried over to Naruto. He got to his legs and then pointed at him and yelled "You're my new teacher and I'm your student!"

Naruto raised an eyebrow "Oh really? What makes you so sure I want you as my student?" {_I don't want to make it too easy for him this time}_

Konohamaru pouted and begged "Come on please! I mean I am the Hokage's gra..." But Naruto cut across him "I think I made it clear in the office I don't care who you're relatives are, or do I have to smack more sense into you?"

Konohamaru then exclaimed "That's the reason why I want you to train me. You don't see me like that. You don't see me as the 'Honorable Grandson of the 3rd Hokage'."

Naruto then held his hand and said "Hold on I can guess the next bit. The other reason is that you think I'm so good that you think that my training will help you become Hokage faster. Am I doing good so far?"

Konohamaru nodded "Yeah that's right so can you p..." But again Naruto raised his hand for silence "Listen, Konoha wasn't built in a day nor did the 3rd become Hokage overnight. He became Hokage because he trained his hardest and understood what true strength is. Do you know what true strength is?"

Konohamaru nodded "Yeah, it comes from learning super cool j..." But again Naruto raised his hand and silence fell {_Well this is new. He never did anything like last time} _"Wrong. Jutsu helps but that's not true strength. True strength comes from the will to protect your friends by doing anything, even if it costs you your life."

Konohamaru then frowned "Heh, isn't that the 'Will of Fire' junk that Grandpa preaches"

A tick appeared on Naruto's brow as he said in a deadly voice "It's not junk. The old man is right and I am beginning to wonder why I even considered teaching you." He turned away from the gaki and began walking away. {Three, two, one} "WAIT!"

Naruto stopped to listen as Konohamaru then went into an apology "I'm sorry I called the 'Will of Fire' junk. I just never understood how that is true strength. Please could you reconsider?"

Unsown to Konohamaru, a grin spread across his face {_Good. That's a start, but I still need more proof to see if he is as determined as he was back then. I already altered the time line so I need to be careful of changes.} _He thought deeply for a seconded until an idea struck him.

He turned around and said "Fine, I'll train you." Konohamaru whooped "Thanks boss you won't b..." But Naruto raised his hand, and the little boy fell silent. "If, if you can complete this challenge. Now remember this, you can quit anytime you want because this challenge might prove too much for you. Are you prepared?"

Konohamaru nodded eagerly "I'm ready, what's the challenge?"

Silence filled the street from where they stood. It pressed in around Konohamaru, who was waiting for the challenge. The moment dragged on longer until Naruto broke the silence.

"Walk with me."

Konohamaru jaw dropped "WHAT! I thought it would be something cool and difficult! What's was all the suspense for?"

Naruto grinned and said calmly "Just a habit of mine."

"An annoying one" muttered Konohamaru

"But all jokes aside." Naruto said, as stern look covered his face "You must try to follow me. I'll even make it easy for you by just sticking to a walking pace." He turned on his heels and began walking down the street. He looked over his shoulder at Konohamaru, who was just standing there, and yelled "Well, you coming or what?"

Konohamaru bounded after him and stood by his side "This will be easy" He boasted.

{_We'll see about that} _the blonde thought. He began to walk and Konohamaru followed him. Naruto then turned to face a wall and continued walking. Konohamaru looked bewildered "Err... Boss? What are you...?" But he stopped as he saw his query walk up the wall.

When he was half way up the wall he looked down at Konohamaru and said "I said follow me, not stand around and gawp." And with that he continued his walk up the wall until he was on he was on the roof. He crossed the roof and then walked down the other wall onto the next street, and was surprised to see a panting Konohamaru who appeared to have run all the way ran the building to head him off.

"Ha... boss" he panted "I... told you this would b..." But he stopped as he saw his boss walk up another building, which was bigger than the last one in both height and diameter. "OH COME ON!"

It continued like this for quite a while, Naruto would walk up and down buildings while Konohamaru would try to follow him, just barley managing to keep up with him. After about an hour of this, Naruto decided that Konohamaru had done enough. So he headed out to the training ground were in his past he taught the same boy the 'Sexy Jutsu', now he was going to teach him chakra control.

As the training ground came into sight, he heard the heavy breathing of his pursuer as he staggered after him. Naruto stopped at the center of the training ground as Konohamaru collapsed down, exhausted from all the running. Naruto shook his head and thought {_Damn, didn't think it would take so much out of him. Hopefully the shadow clone I sent to get ramen will be back soon} _

As if right on cue, the shadow clone entered the clearing brandishing two smoking bowls of ramen. It went to Naruto and gave him one bowl and was about to eat the contents of the other bowl, until Naruto punched it in the head; thus giving himself a headache. He caught the other ramen bowl before it hit the ground and then placed it by Konohamaru saying "Eat up. You need some energy if you want to train."

As if those were the magic words, Konohamaru sat up and began devouring the bowl of ramen, stuffing the stuff down his throat with no chopstick {_Or manners} _thought Naruto {_Even I didn't_ _just glug it down_}. Naruto then started on his own ramen, using the chopsticks that came with it. He took his time eating the ramen, savoring its flavor. It felt like years since he had ramen, which might be true considering he was six years in the past.

After he finished his bowl and set it aside, he stood up to see an energized Konohamaru, who looked impatient and excited. "Well now, let's begin" He stated. He gestured to Kono (A/N I'm tired of typing his full name so I'm calling him Kono.) to come with him, over to some trees at the edge of the training ground.

As they arrived at the base of the tree, Naruto said "Now I'm going to teach you how to control your chakra. I guess you know what it is right?" Kono nodded vigorously "Good, saves me form explaining it to you. Now charka control can help you in many ways. It can help you stick to surfaces, like what I did when you were following me. It can also help with your jutsu and..."

Naruto went on explaining all the benefits off chakra control. When he finished he gave Kono a kunai and ordered "Now I want you to focus chakra into your feet, then run up the tree. When you reach a point when you can't continue, mark the spot as you fall down. This will help mark you progress." The blonde walked away and sat down facing the tree. Kono was still standing there, waiting for Naruto to say go.

"Well..?" asked Naruto, who pointed at the tree "...Get climbing!" Kono nodded, faced the tree and charged. He reached the trunk and started to run up its bark, until he promptly slipped off. He landed on his back in a heap on the ground, clutching his head because that had hit the ground first.

Naruto sighed and stood up thinking {_Well he's either got too little chakra reserves or he has big reserves but has little control. If it's the latter then this is going to take a while, if the former... well I could always help with his taijutsu} _

Naruto walked over towards the brat, who was still writhing around in pain clutching his head, and said "Next time be calm and concentrate." He grabbed one of Konohamaru's arms and pulled him to his feet, while saying "If you're not then all you'll do is slip off."

Kono rubbed his sore head and replied "Ok boss, I'll nail it next time for sure" and with that he ran at the tree again, full of determination. He reached the trunk and started to run up the bark again, this time he stayed on for at least five seconds before he tumbled off it again. This time however, Naruto caught Kono before his head connected with the ground again.

He put him on the ground saying "Not bad" Kono grinned "but not good either. You need to at least reach the lowest branch before I say you have mastered this exercise" Konohamaru's grin vanished, replacing it with a groan, "Ah man, why is training so hard?"

Naruto sighed and replied "Like I said, Konoha wasn't built in a day and..." But Kono interrupted him "Yeah yeah and the old man didn't become strong in one night, but still why do I have to train so hard? You've had me running around all the time and trying to pull off this exercise all in one day. I mean the academy doesn't train people this hard so..."

Naruto then raised his hand again and Kono fell silent {_Jeez, this is defiantly useful, I can get him to shut up whenever I want to} _"Am I teaching you something at the academy?" heasked, in which Kono shook his head in response. "No, I'm not. I'm teaching you something that is expected from Genin, not from academy students. In the academy they only prepare you to be ninja, they don't force you to train as hard like Genin do. I'm not a Genin either but I want to be strong so I put effort in and train as much as I possibly can to make sure I can achieve my dream."

"And what is your dream boss?" asked Kono, curiosity in his voice. Naruto was about to say 'to become Hokage' but for some reason he couldn't bring himself to lie. Naruto had recently lost interest in his dream of becoming Hokage, having already achieved that goal in his past, or was it his future? _{Bah, so damn troublesome. ... I think I spent too much time around Shika and his dad} _

"So, what is it boss" the little kid asked, waiting impatiently for his boss's answer. Naruto decided to tell the truth {_It's not that big a deal anyway. It's not like I haven't changed the time line already} _

Far away in another dimension, a hollow was about to kill an orange haired soul reaper, who was lying on the ground under the hollows claw when it suddenly had a sneezing fit. The soul reaper took advantage of this and swung his Zanpactou at the hollow's mask, which broke in two. "Ah crap!" swore the hollow as the gates of the underworld opened up behind him "And I thought it was bad being killed by that demon!" He said no more as a hand, armed with a spike that had emerged through the gate, impaled him. And as the hand withdrew into the gate, the ginger soul reaper caught the last ever glimpse of the hollow, who had been known in life as Mizuki.

"Well..." Naruto began, trying to find away to say this without revealing too much of the truth "...there was this man who had saved me, saved me from a terrible thing that would have happened if he had not intervened..." Naruto paused, trying to find to find some more words. While he thought Kono asked "How did he save you Boss?"

"Well... let's just say he gave me a 'chance' and no I won't explain what that means. Anyway, the point is because of... what he did I promised him I would for fill his dream for him."

Kono nodded in understanding, and then he frowned "But why did you say you would for fill it for him? And what was his dream?"

Naruto sighed "Well... Bah, never mind. Just continue the exercise, gaki, you need to reach the lower branch before I say you master this exercise."

A tick appeared on the kid's forehead as he growled "Don't call me a gaki; you're not that old enough to call me one. You're only what, twelve?"

{Actually I'm twenty} thought the blonde. He shrugged "So? I'm still older than you and all you doing at the moment is moaning like a spoilt kid... wait, you are." Kono stomped his feet "I am not!"

"Then prove it." Said the blonde with a smirk on his face, pointing at the tree "If you can finish this exercise in a week I will stop calling you a gaki... for a while"

Kono grinned, determination spread all over his face, as he boasted "Watch me boss, I'll finish this exercise so fast that even you'll be amazed" he positioned himself in front of the tree and yelled "Believe it!" grinning like a idiot.

Naruto sweat dropped {_Did I really used to say that? No wonder they called me a baka. Still, at least it's good to see he's got guts.} _His thoughts turned to his white harried and perverted sensei _{And guts to never give up is a true form of strength, isn't it Pervy Sage} _He smiled as he remembered his old sensei, as he watched Kono run up the tree again and promptly fall down it.

Naruto thought he heard a faint scream; he was sure he heard someone being beaten to a pulp. Being the pupil of three rewound perverts (Turns out Killer Bee read very pervy raps and Baki had the entire collection of Icha Icha: Desert Love) he knew the sound of a peeping tom having his but handed to him by a bunch of distraught, angry and very deadly females. This made him wonder where the old pervert was.

The answer was that he was face down on a Konoha pavement after having being tortured, maimed and almost killed by a couple of females that had caught him researching. Usually they just threw stuff at him and screamed but unfortunately for the great sage, the occupants of today's bath had been Tsume, Kurenai, Anko and if his memory served him correctly... no can't remember the first name but he knew it was a Haruno; the pink hair, loud screaming and brute strength that was not far off from Tsunade's was an obvious give away.

As he pushed himself off the ground he cursed Konoha's plant life because his sneezes must have been hay fever. But what if it wasn't? What if it was caused by someone... he stooped his train of thought as he heard snakes slithering across the ground. He craned his neck to see that Anko and her fellow bath friends, all dressed back into their proper attire, were all armed with kunai, claws, and brooms and in Anko's case snakes. She grinned evilly as she said "Well you didn't think we would let you get off so easy did you?" Her snakes were now dangerously close to the sage's mid regions as she said "Striking shadow snakes: Break the family jewels!" His screaming was heard all over the fire country.

Naruto sweat dropped and thought _{Were ever he is, it sounds like he's gone and perved on kunoichi and got caught. Hopefully he won't die; though it is a nice contrast to being killed by your student. You get to see a sight worth seeing before you die} _

Kono really did mean what he said as he continued his effort of mastering the exercise. It had been five hours until the kid was resting on the lower branch, panting like a dog. He looked down at his teacher and gave him the thumbs up, panting "See, *pant* I told *pant* you *pant * would* pant* do i..." But the kid, who was exhausted beyond belief, fell asleep, his head lolling on his shoulder.

Naruto shook his head {_He wasn't so bad. Even though the tree is only 3 feet tall it's still a good start. I'll teach him something when he...} _But his thoughts were interrupted with the loud below of "WHERE'S THE HONORABLE GRANDSON!"

Naruto's ears were ringing with the man's shout as he turned to face Ebisu, who was giving Naruto a pitiful killing intent and a stony cold glare. When Naruto could hear himself think, he yelled at the closet pervert "Jeez, you scream like a frickin Haruno! Could it kill you to speak like a normal person, you four eyed freak!"

Ebisu ignored him and announced to the clearing "Honorable Grandson, please come with me and leave this delinquent to his own devices! I am your shortcut to becoming Hokage, not this pitiful punk!" Kono responded with a loud snore, the boy was still perched on the branch, his head lolling over his shoulder still.

{_Wow, he slept through all that yelling?} _Thought Naruto_{He must be really exhausted, perhaps I worked him too hard after all... meh, No pain no gain.} _He then turned his attention to Ebisu, who was looking around wildly for Kono. "Listen four eyes; all that stuff about being a shortcut is a pile of bull. There are no shortcuts to becoming Hokage; all there is to it is hard work and dedication. Anyway, if you're such a great teacher why did he seek me out? Looks to me that I, the 'delinquent', am a far better teacher then you are. What are you, a held back Genin or something?"

Ebisu growled and roared "YOU INSOLENT GAKI! I WILL SHOW YOU WHO'S A HELD BACK GENIN!" He readied himself into a battle position "PREPARE TO FEEL THE POWER OF A JOUNIN!"

Naruto raised his hands in front of his chest, holding them ready to perform hand signs, and retorted "Oh yeah? Well witness the power of my secret killer move!" {God that sounded corny. Well can't be too smart can I} He started going through some hand signs, thinking {I went easy on the old man with this, but you four eyes are getting the full version} He landed on the last hand sign and pointed at Ebisu with his left hand and yelled in his head { Icha Icha Style: Hentai Paradise!}

Ebisu froze, his face rigged as the most erotic sight he ever saw flashed before his eyes {_Three, two, one} _Then he screamed, blood gushed out of his nose like two thick rivers of red that shot out at high speed like a fire hose. Ebisu was lifted into the air, thanks to the pure power of his nose bleed. He was carried high into the air until he was out of sight. Naruto head the faint sound of a splash, a scream and the sound of fists upon flesh. Clearly the closet pervert had landed in the women's bath house {_I think I over did it a bit}_the blonde thought, sweat tricking down his brow.

Ebisu was now next to Jiraiya; his head was all so buried into the pavement. He tried to push himself off the ground when Jiraiya pulled him back down whispering "Don't move. If you move then they will beat you up like a piñata." His warning came too late as he heard the sound of snakes again. He groaned and braced himself for the pain while Ebisu looked to see the crowd of angry women. "Well looks like you're still alive" said Anko, who had a very sadistic grin on her face."Well at least you've got a friend to suffer with you." The snakes came closer and closer; Jiraiya closed his eyes in dread while Ebisu whimpered "Mommy." The screams of pure agony and suffering were heard throughout the elemental lands and will be remembered till the end of time.

Naruto stood there in silence for a seconded before making the cross symbol on his chest praying _{May_Kami have mercy on your soul Ebisu for you have suffered a fate worse than death.} In other countries; other perverts were doing the exact same words except about his name. (A/N... ok that's weird. Must be some sacred pervert thing or something

He looked up at the tree to see that Kono was still fast asleep. {_I really did put him through the ringer. Well better not wake him} _Naruto leaped up upon the branch and scooped Kono into his arms. {_Better drop him off at the old man's office} _And with that he leapt down from the tree and headed straight for his destination.

Naruto arrived in front of the Hokage building and knocked. He then gently put down the sleeping Kono and started to walk away, but he glanced back at the kid and smiled, _{You did well Konohamaru. Hopefully with my help and your dedication you will become Hokage someday. After all...} _Naruto turned away from the sleeping boy_, _who was clearly having a dream bout ramen due to the fact he was muttering about noodles and miso, and thought {_... I had my turn, so it's only right to pass it on to my rival} _And with that he left.

The door opened to reveal an Anbu guard, who looked around to see who had knocked only to see the sleeping boy on the door step. The guard muttered "There you are, your grandfather worried about you."

He bent down and picked up Kono, while doing so noticed the boy's sweat and dirty face. "Whoa, what happened to you?" His response was a snore. The Anbu shook his head, muttering "Well whatever you did, you look liked me after sensei first trained me." He shuddered, remembering his first day of Chunin training was not the most pleasant experience.

The Anbu carried the sleeping boy upstairs into the Hokage's office. As he entered, kicking the door open due to his hands being full, he addressed the room saying "Hokage-sama! I found...Hokage-sama?"

The said Hokage was sitting at his desk with his crystal ball upon it. Hiruzen Sarutobi had been watching Naruto and Kono threw his crystal ball and to say he was surprised was an understatement. He had been shocked that Naruto really knew the tree climbing exercise and that the blonde had such wisdom for his age. He never realized that the boy held his clan's belief (The Will of Fire) so highly.

Though he was pleased that the boy had such knowledge and wisdom, it saddened the old man, thinking that even after all these years of knowing him, he never really knew the real Naruto. All that time when the boy boasted loudly about how he would become Hokage and that goofy grin and catchphrase 'believe it' was all just an act.

As he watched Naruto train Kono, he wondered why Naruto pretend to be such an idiot. But then he remembered what Iruka had told him; about how that people ignored him when he tried to be smart so he acted the fool to get attention, even around him.

The one thing that Hiruzen thought as he saw Naruto test his grandson was _{Harsh. Clever but Harsh}_Naruto had really pushed Kono with his test, making him chase him around half of Konoha was something that academy children would find taxing since the academy never pushed children this hard. But even though it was taxing, Kono came through and because of this Naruto taught him the tree climbing exercise.

But even as he taught him, Naruto showed no mercy as he pushed Kono harder which resulted in the boy complaining, saying that the academy never pushed them this hard. Naruto then lectured him about how that since this wasn't the academy he expected Kono to train harder, and said that even though he isn't a Genin he trained hard so he can achieve his dream.

The old man was expecting Naruto to say 'to become Hokage' when Kono asked what was his dream. He was shocked to hear that Naruto's dream was not to become Hokage but to fore fill another dream, someone who had apparently saved him by giving him a 'chance'.

Who this person was and what he meant by 'chance' was never told as the boy ended the subject by telling his grandson to continue his exercise, calling him a gaki as he did so. Sarutobi wondered why he called Kono that when Naruto was only about three years older than him and apparently so did his grandson. Naruto responded that he would stop calling him that if he finished the exercise in a week. Kono responded with gusto, clamming that he would finish it in a flash and even said 'believe it'.

True to his word, Kono practiced for hours until the he mastered the exercise. This was a considerable feat for an academy student, even though the said student had fallen asleep on the branch. Sarutobi saw that Naruto was impressed with the boy, as he had witnessed the boy's achievement first hand. The old man was glad that Naruto had taught him the exercise then his Perverts Dream jutsu, something which he had feared he's do.

The Genjutsu had been so graphic... he shuddered. How Naruto developed or even got the idea for this jutsu was beyond him; though he must admit this was coming from the boy who had created the Sexy Jutsu. So when Ebisu came along and challenged Naruto after the boy had berated the Jounin about strength and called him a 'Held back Genin'; Naruto had used the same jutsu on him and the effects were... horrifying.

He had been so scared so frightened of what he had seen he had been paralyzed, reducing the old man to just stare at the crystal ball. He only stopped this continuous stare when his Anbu guard addressed him, the said Anbu holding his grandson who was fast asleep in his arms.

The 3rd looked up at the Anbu and said blankly "What?" The Anbu gestured his head towards the sleeping boy and replied "I found your grandson Hokage-sama. Someone left him by the front door"

The 3rd smiled, mentally thanking Naruto for delivering his grandson and also for the lessons that he had taught him today. Sarutobi then commanded "Ok, take him to his room." He hesitated for a moment before asking "And when that's done, bring me the forbidden scroll."

The Anbu frowned behind his mask as he replied "As you wish Hokage-sama, but what do you want with the forbidden scroll, if you don't mind me asking?"

The 3rd replied "I need to add a new Jutsu to it. A jutsu so powerful and dangerous it could even defeat me in one blow." The Anbu gasped and asked in wonder "What is this Jutsu, Hokage-sama?"

Sarutobi bowed his head, a look of utter seriousness on his face, as he muttered in a dark tone "Perverts Dream." And while the Anbu looked bemused and confused; Sarutobi made the mark of the cross on his chest and recited, _{May Kami have mercy upon your soul because you have suffered a fate worse than death} _He paused as he looked out the window at Naruto's apartment, then continued _{And may Kami favor Konoha in the heavens, because I believe once Naruto becomes a Genin; the 'shit will hit the fan'... or at least I think that's how the youngsters say it these days} _

**A/****N** **"Hoped you enjoyed it. Now (1) just to clarify, I know that Danzo becomes Hokage (Even though it didn't last long) but I think because he died after being Hokage for a couple of days or so it means he doesn't deserve to be remembered as the 6****th****Hokage. "**

**E/N Editors Note, Wasn't the forth only Hokage for like a Day. Danzo doesn't deserve to be sixth, coz' he's... Danzo.**

**A/N As I finished speaking Naruto, Sai, Hinata, Sakura and Lee entered being my room, all of them chatting to each over.**

**{Good, commence stage one: Stall target} I thought. Sakura was the first to speak "Hello Welshscot-bastard enjoyed your coffee?" I ignored this and instead addressed Lee "Hi Lee, good thing you're here. I wanted to ask you something, how do you feel being paired with Ayame?"**

**Lee responded with a grin, saying "I think it is marvelous that I am paired with Ayame-chan; even though it's a letdown that I'm not with Sakura..." Out of the corner of my eye I saw her shiver at the thought; and then I cursed in my head **_**{Damn banshee; Lee is lucky not to be landed with you, he deserves better than some dumb bitch.} **_

"**... Ayame-chan is sweet and kind and does not think that I am weird. Anyway, I am starting to regret liking Sakura because of this story; she is too evil and cruel for me to like her now.****It was very un-youthful of her. "**

**Sakura was annoyed at this and yelled "Listen Spandex Freak, this story is just made up and will never happen. I am not a bitch and Sasuke is not Emo!" **

"**So you wouldn't betray everyone for Sasuke?" I asked. Sakura paused as she contemplated her answer, her face was obviously showing that she was torn between her answers. "Exactly, if you really did get offered the chance you would still be tempted and don't you deny it." **

**She was about to respond when a kunai came through the open window**_** {Stage two: Daze the target} **_**Then at that moment, Gai came flying in yelling "Dynamic Entry!" Sakura was very unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of Gai's kick (Yes, really unfortunate) which sent her flying into the wall. **

**Lee was shocked while Naruto, Sai and Hinata were just surprised he hadn't come sooner. Gai saw what he did and began to apologies "Sorry about that my youthful friend, Welshscot asked me to..." **

**I interrupted by saying to Lee "Hey look Lee, its Gai-sensei!" **_**{Stage three: Blind the target}**_

**Lee looked at his idol and yelled "Guy-sensei!"**

"**Lee!"**

"**Gai-sensei!"**

"**Lee!"**

**Now any sensible person would have done what I did; which was pulling out a pair of sunglasses and put them on. Turns out that Sai, Naruto and Hinata where sensible people****; Sakura wasn't so when she stood up after falling off the wall she was greeted by a brilliantly blazing sunset. **

**Now I have to admit that the sunset was awesome, but I think it would be better off without Lee and Gai as they hugged each other. Sakura took one look at the scene before covering her eyes yelling "IT BURNS!" She staggered forwards, trying to find a way of escaping the display of hugging and Genjutus. **

**Sakura was unaware that she was heading straight for my open window. She was also unaware that Naruto and Sai were waiting for her by the window on either side. **_**{Final stage: The fall}**_

**As Sakura came close to the window, Sai said "Ready Naruto?" Naruto gave a foxy grin and replied "Ready my friend."****Hinata then went behind Sakura and said "Ready and waiting."**

**They all look at me and I gave them a nod. Hinata pushed Sakura forwards, which caught the women completely by surprise so she began stumbling towards the window. Sai and Naruto both stuck a foot out which Sakura tripped up on; causing her to fall out the window head first. **

**Lee and Gai stopped hugging when they heard the sound of flesh meeting concrete. Being totally unaware of my plan, Lee asked "What happened to Sakura? She was hear just a seconded ago and what was that sound?" **

**I stood up and walked over to the window and looked out of it. She had not fallen far, or rather not by anime standards, and was now spread eagled on the ground. I smirked and raised my hands out in front of me, saying as I did so "That sound was nothing compared to this." **_**{And now the encore} **_**I clapped my hands and the paper bombs around Sakura exploded. **

**I watched the mini mushroom cloud that was made by the explosion with interest before shutting the window. I turned around to see the dumb struck faces of Gai and Lee and the sweat drops from Hinata, Naruto and Sai. "What?" I asked.**

"**That was over kill with the explosions Welshscot, you need her alive for your story and she can't do that if she is a grain of dust." responded Naruto. I shrugged "She'll live; if you anime character can survive being punched 1000km then you can survive a few little explosions."**

**Hinata shook her head in disbelief "Your type of 'little explosion' is the same as six of Deidara's clay bird bombs." **

**I just replied "Like I said, it wouldn't kill you. Land you in hospital for months maybe, but death takes a lot more than that."**

**Then Lee piped up "But why did you do that to her in the first place? That was very cruel and un-youthful!" **

**I looked Lee in the eyes and replied "She peed in my coffee Lee; how is that not youthful?"**

**Lee and Gai cringed and replied "That is very un-youthful indeed!"**

**I nod and said "Thought so." I turned to Gai and asked "Can you take her to the hospital Gai? Like Naruto said, we need her for the story." **

**Gai went into his good guy pose and stated "You've got it Welsh-sama! And before I go, I haven't seen Sasuke and when I went to look for him he wasn't any where around here." **

**I bit my lip "Damn it, where is that Emo-Duck? Thanks anyway Gai, see you later." As Gai began running out the room I turned towards the others and said "Anyway, thanks you guys for helping; including you Lee even though you didn't know about it.**

**Well I think that's that, review good or bad and see you soon. Adios. **

**E/N Hey readers, this is CJaMes12 just repeating Welsh's request to review and pointing out the problem some people have with long A/N's. If you think that the A/N's are too long, review so, or, if you enjoy reading them, review so as well. I feel now that I have been recognized in the A/N I should say now that, I apologize for any grammar/punctuation mistakes that I have missed... Welsh is pressing me to do this as he wants to get this out tonight, despite the late hour and the age and a day it takes for sentences to register. :D**

**A/N Took your bloody time about it too CJ. Anyway, hope you enjoyed. **


	7. Fight With Destiny & Meal with the Past

**Itachi Uchiha, in his black coat with red clouds, gazed into a cobwebbed and dishevelled room. Dust was thick, laid on every surface and cobwebs were present in the dark, manky corners. On a desk, by a broken window, was a small, black laptop; more commonly known as the 'script'. Itachi shuddered slightly as he entered the room, eyeing the spiders that dangled from the ceiling. **

**He had been tasked, yet again, to check if Welshscot had finished the script for the next chapter. Over the past months, Welsh had to put the story on hold; due to his other obligations and the fact that, he him-self, had put Sakura into traction. Deidara had described the incident as a 'wonderful show of astounding art'. Aka: small, ground shaking explosions. Itachi did not feel at all sorry for Sakura, for she had defiled Welshscot's coffee with her own waste.**

**Since her hospitalization, Welsh had run into a wall; aka: writers block. So in an attempt to break said wall, Welshscot used a method he called 'Bounce'. He would write about something else for awhile, and then he would 'bounce' back to his original idea. Due to need of bouncing, he had moved to a different place to work; leaving this one in disrepair. He had promised to post the script once Sakura was out an about. She was currently, as far as he was aware, still in a hospital bed with her legs propped up.**

**Itachi still checked to see if it had arrived, but only because Tobi nagged him to death about it. And today, it paid off. As Itachi logged in and scanned the email inbox, his sharp eyes spied a new email addressed: 'Chapter 7'. **

**A smirk broke open on his face; the wait was finally over. He turned around to face the door and yelled; "HEY, EVERYONE! IT'S HERE!" **

**No sooner had he spoken, the entire cast (minus Sakura) barged into the dusty old room; earning cries of disgust from the males and shrikes of fright from the girls; as spiders were shook off the ceiling.**

**When all were present, and weren't freighting about spiders, Itachi instructed; "Right, Welsh has finally sent us the next chapter. I'll hand it out as soon as..." **

**He was interrupted by Kiba, who cried out; "Hang on, what about Sakura! As much as I miss her company..." Everyone smirked or smiled at that piece of sarcasm. "...We still need her to perform for the next nightmare piece, right?" Everyone murmured agreement, some nodding their head while others groaned at being given false hope.**

**Itachi silenced them, with a single glare of his sharingan, before explaining; "I known that, Kiba. But Welsh's side message said..." He turned around to the laptop screen, which read; **_**  
(A/N: I don't own Naruto. Everyone, perform play as usual. Itachi, if you're reading this (for I think Tobi would have pestered you into checking my email) then I want you to be the narrator. Best of luck: Welshscot. PS: My beta didn't finish so there will may be a couple of mistakes.)**_

**Itachi turned around and announced; "You heard the A/N; get ready to perform." Still complaining about lack of cast, the crowd slowly disbursed from out of Welsh's wreck of a room. Itachi, after sweeping the dust from of a chair, sat down and began to narrate the story; as so: **__

A Fight with Destiny; a Meal with The Past

Naruto took a deep, calming breath. He straightened his hair, brushed trace dust off his jumpsuit (Which he planned on changing) and messed around with his goggles on his forehead.

_{Come on, Naruto; you have faced several members of the seven swordsmen of the mist, defeated a giant sand demon, faced a wielder of the Rinnegan and killed the stupid duck butt, yet you still can't face your ex-girlfriend/ fiancé! No wait, she hasn't been my girlfriend yet and I never...OH HELL THIS IS SO CONFUSING!} _

If you haven't guessed it, Naruto was standing at the front gate of the Hyuuga compound; and he was very nervous. Naruto had done his morning exercise, then he had a shower to get rid of the smell and he then brushed off all the dust and muck off his jumpsuit.

Naruto took a step towards the gate...then took three steps back. He cursed his shyness, something that he thought he'd never be, as it halted his attempts to see Hinata...

Naruto sighed as he walked up to the compound wall. He slid down it, into a sitting position, pondering his predicament. Why was he so hesitant? Beyond these gates was the love of his life (or past life) and he was acting like her when they were kids.

Was it simply that he was too shy to see her? Or did the image of her broken and bleeding body stop him in his tracks? Or was it the memory, the memory of that fateful moment before the battle had started...

"_**Come on, Naruto-kun! You promised to take me to that new Chinese restaurant!" said Hinata, who was wearing her Anbu outfit with an Anbu cat mask. **_

_**Naruto, the sixth Hokage, was sitting at his desk. He had finished his daily paperwork, with the help from his shadow clones, and really had nothing to do. But even so, Naruto insisted to stay at his desk.**_

_**The reason was that Sasuke's army could attack them at any moment; even with the reports from Sakura which said that they weren't at the perimeter. He felt that if they did strike, even if it seemed unlikely, he wanted to be in a place where he can organise his comrades. **_

_**Ever since Gaara and his siblings arrived, after the Sand had been attacked, He and Shikamaru had become hell bent on putting that bastard's head on a pike. Shikamaru had especially become more distant and focused on the war effort; barking at his teammates to train harder and spending countless hours on battle strategies. He did however; still visit Temari in the hospital. **_

_**Naruto knew Temari; a strong and independent woman, who always managed to pull through, even in the direst of circumstances. Now she was a shivering wreck, a shadow of her former self. She'd witnessed that monster slay her son in her very arms; the shock and misery had taken its toll. **_

_**Gaara had also changed; ever since Matsuri's death, he had become totally secluded. He never spoke to anyone unless it was important; and even then, he answered any important question with either a point, a shaking of the head or the nodding of the aforementioned head.**_

_**Kankuro didn't say a word; important or otherwise. The atmosphere of the village was tense; the only bright light was standing in front of him. **_

_**Naruto sighed as he explained, for the hundredth time, "Look Hinata, I can't leave the office for anything at the moment. Shikamaru wants to discuss another battle strategy with..." **_

_**But Hinata interrupted, in a pouty tone, "But you can use a shadow clone to meet with him. Please, this might be the only time we have left." **_

_**Naruto heard the underlying plea in her tone. Even though she puts on a smile, Naruto could see that she was also scared. She was the only Konoha survivor of the team that was sent to track down Kabuto. Team eight had found him; along with a certain duck butt as well. Sasuke had shown no mercy as he and Kabuto laid waste into Hinata's team. **_

_**Kiba was the first to fall, dying so he could protect Akamaru from Sasuke's Chidori Sword. Hinata would have perished there, if not for Shino. He used the last of his bugs to shield her from Sasuke's well aimed fireball. The said Uchiha had been 'annoyed' so he slowly strangled the life out of Shino; right in front of a wounded Hinata. Hinata had been so enraged; that on her last legs she tore Kabuto asunder. Sasuke would have claimed her life to; had it not been for Sai, who had saved her at the last second.**_

_**Naruto remembered her face, after Sai brought her back from the battle, of how it was filled with such despair and suffering. He even remembered the sounds of Akamaru pining as Sai had practically dragged the faithful dog away from its fallen master's corpse. The canine now spends his days on Kiba's grave, drained of the fight yet not weak enough to die. So he sits there, day and night, intending to join his master in the next life. **_

_**Now, even with her mask on, she was the only thing keeping Konoha from falling into a compete state of depression. **_

_**So Naruto gave in. He stood up, summoning a clone as he did so, and began to make his way to Hinata's side. As he reached her, the shadow clone took up the originals position, he offered out his hand. She took it, while using her other hand to take off her mask. Then they both leaned forwards until their lips met. **_

_**They both started softly, then Hinata deepened the kiss; her tongue now exploring Naruto's mouth. The Hokage fought back, his tongue beginning the battle for dominance. As the dance was being held, their free left hands began to explore the others body; one massaging the others abs white the other stoked a slender frame. Hinata began to softly moan into the kiss, as Naruto's hands snaked higher and higher...**_

"_**Get a room." They broke apart; both glaring at the shadow clone, who had been lazily spinning a kunai on its middle digit. That was one of the most depressing things that bothered Naruto; his clones were moody and serious, with the occasional pieces of dry humour. **_

_**Hinata blushed slightly at the comment as she glared, but soon controlled herself. She then turned her gaze to the real Naruto, and said mischievously, "Well, my Hokage-sama. I take that as a yes?" **_

_**He grinned ear to ear in response, something that he had not done in a long time. He then placed an arm around her shoulder, and then said to his clone, "Hey, can you get the shuriken down there? I don't want to disturb the guards." **_

_**The clone sighed, before complying too the original's demands. He pulled out, from his equipment pouch, a three edged shuriken that had a seal plastered to the inner circle of it. This was the 'flying thunder god shuriken', which served the same purpose as the kunai version. **_

_**The clone then leisurely threw the artillery out of the window. As it sailed through the air, Naruto grasped Hinata's hand and warned, "Brace your-self." **_

_**She did so; and not a moment too soon. Next seconded latter, Hinata experienced the feeling of being pushed through a very small hole. This sensation lasted only for a moment, but left her dazed. **_

_**Naruto looked at her, concern in his face, as he asked, "You okay, Sunshine-chan? I almost puked the first time I did that." Hinata nodded to show that she was okay. **_

_**They were currently on the main street of the village that ran down to the office to the main gate, and the moment they were ready; they set of to the restaurant, hand in hand.**_

_**They walked in silence, their footsteps echoed as they brought down every step. The streets were usually empty, for either the children were at the academy (studying), the civilians had taken their goods indoor to sell (They were scared of invasion that could strike them down at any moment) and almost every ninja was on guard duty or on a mission.**_

_**Naruto was saddened by the emptiness of his village; which had been caused by the news of the fall of the other Hidden villages. The reality of the situation had casted a dark cloud on Konoha, killing the joys of both old and young; as the sound of laughter could not be heard from the taverns, restaurants and playgrounds. **_

_**The only bright light left amongst the greying leaves was walking beside him. And at the moment, her cheeks were glowing crimson as she fiddled with her shirt; a sign of shyness that she had not shown for four years. **_

_**Naruto stopped, just as they were in sight of the new restaurant that was at the very end of the row of buildings that lined the main street, and asked Hinata, in a concerned voice: "Are you alright, Sunshine-chan?" **_

_**Hinata blushed even more, her hand still entwined with her boyfriend's, as she replied, in a quiet voice, "I'm alright, Naruto-kun. It's just..." She took a deep breath; a look of seriousness replaced her one of embarrassment, and said, in a calm tone, "...you know that I'm going to be the Clan leader after my father dies, right?"**_

_**Naruto nodded. How could he not know that? After the mission that involved Kabuto; Hizashi, her father, had announced publicly that Hinata was truly his daughter as well as being a great ninja and a proud Hyuuga. She was reinstated the clan heir. Hinata, who always believed that her father had thought she was a weak and pathetic ninja, had been over joy' about her father's public acceptance of her; which gave her an even greater boost to her confidence than him becoming her boyfriend. **_

_**Luckily her sister, Hanabi, would not be branded with the bird cage seal; because Hizashi claimed that branding her would be pointless in this time of conflict, so Hanabi's attitude towards Hinata had greatly improved. Hinata now had a supportive family and a good looking ninja for a boyfriend; everything she'd ever wanted was now hers.**_

"_**Well..." she continued, still in a calm tone, "...when that happens...I'll be too busy to see you, except when the council meetings are held, and I'll be expected to have children; to sustain the main branch. And also..." She stopped, taking a deep calming breath as she did so, before continuing, "...also...we don't know when Sasuke will strike, which day will be our last, so..." **_

_**Naruto listened intently, as a rough idea of what she was asking formed into his head. The lavender eyed heiress gave a slight chuckle, as her will began to sap, before saying, "Heh, Ino said that I should wait for you to ask; being the man and all that...But I know that you have a heavy burden to carry and need to focus on the village safety... So I decided...I decided to...ask you instead." **_

_**Hinata then took Naruto's other hand and began to squeeze it, gently, as she gazed into his sky blue eyes. The moment seemed to go on forever; like time itself had stopped, as Hinata paused. She continued to stare into the sea of blue; as if the words she needed were lost in her lover's eyes. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, she asked, in a nervous yet clear voice, "Naruto Uzumaki, hero of Konoha and Sixth Hokage...will you marry me?" **_

_**Naruto's heart began to soar; soar out of his chest, soar into the sky until finally landing on cloud nine. His head was spinning as the mix emotions of joy, happiness, exhilaration and bliss stormed through his head; blocking out the ones of fear, misery and reason. Had their hands not intertwined; he would have claimed this to be a dream. But the warmth of her hands, the sweet smell of her hair and fondness of her eyes told him that this was real; not a sake enhanced dream.**_

_**As Naruto found his voice, that seemed to have left with his heart at the time, the answer, the only answer, came to his lips. But then; memories took him...**_

_**Naruto's clone sat down, thinking, **__{Great, the original probably wants me to do some more paper work.} __**As he positioned himself in the chair; he noticed that the original him and his girlfriend were having a quick snog. Sighing, he pulled out a shadow cloned kunai and began to spin it around his middle finger; said finger was in the small hoop shaped hole at the butt of the kunai. **_

_**He then looked back at the original, which was now starting to take the kiss a little too far, and stated, in a lazy undertone, "Get a room." **_

_**This did the trick, as the couple broke from their embrace. They then glared daggers at the clone, which bluntly ignored them by continuing to play with his kunai.**_

_**Few minutes later, after helping the love birds leave by window, the clone was alone. He propped his feet up on the desk, thinking as he did so, **__{Well, at least there's no paper work. That's all we do these days, do the paper work. He barely uses us for anything else.} _

_**Then a nock was heard, from the office door, and the sound of a duo of voices said, "Hey, Naruto/Gaki! Let us in!"**_

_**The clone quickly put his feet down off the desk, before answering, "Come in, you two! The doors open!" The clone now felt a bit better; the company of his two best medics was a rare happening. Even though he was a clone, he still felt the same as the original did for his friends. **_

_**(A/N: ...How on earth is she here?)**_

_**The door swung open, revealing the sight of the former Hokage, now head medic, Tsunade and his old, pink harried team mate, Sakura. They came in, both bearing cups and a bottle of sake. Sakura was the first to speak, saying "Hi, Naruto-sama. Lady Tsunade and I, wandered if you'd want cup of wine; you must be tired by now, with all the paper work and things."**_

_**Naruto grinned, as he replied, "Sure, why not? And Sakura, don't call me Sama. Just Naruto will do." He then turned his gaze to the aged medic, while Sakura put down her cups on the desk, and queried, "How's things at the hospital, Baachan?" **_

_**A tick appeared on Tsunade's forehead as the sound of a cup being crushed, to dust, filled the room. "I told you, Gaki! Don't call me Baachan!" **_

_**Naruto shrugged as he replied, "Meh, old habits die hard, Baachan." Another cup was now dust as it was lost in Tsunade's hands. Naruto, recognising the danger signs, quickly added, "Ok, ok. It's just a joke, Tsunade. But seriously, what is happening at the hospital." **_

_**Tsunade sighed as she sat down, on a chair that Sakura put out for her and Tsunade so they can sit around the desk, and said, in a tired voice, "To be honest, It's depressing. There haven't been any serious injuries in the past few weeks; but trying to look after Temari is a full time job." **_

_**Naruto's clone bit his lip, as the memory of Temari's distraught and broken face played through his head; along with the image of the bloody bundle she held so tightly to, as she rock back and forth on the ground... **_

_**He was brought back to the present, as Tsunade continued, "She's getting worse and worse by the day. Refusing food, her attempts at suicide...and now she's having hallucinations. She thinks she's watching her son grow up; while all she's really doing is staring at a blank wall. She mistakes Shikamaru for her son, too..." **_

_**Naruto's clone raised its hand to silence Tsunade, as nausea crept into his stomach. Shikamaru was being mistaken, by his own wife, for his dead son? That...**_

_**The sound of wine being poured broke the clone out of its horrified thoughts, as Sakura filled his cup with sake. She had a small smile on her face, fake or not the clone couldn't tell, as she said, "Now come on, let's not get into morbid talks. Today, after all, is a special day." **_

_{Yeah, the anniversary of the day the village got turned into a crater. Very 'special' indeed; that's not one bit morbid at all, is it Sakura?} __**Thought Naruto's clone, as he and the other two began to drink from their cups. While Tsunade began to sip it down like no tomorrow; the clone just starred at the clear coloured liquid. His memories of the past four years seemed to appear on the surface of the alcohol; him holding hands with Hinata, him standing beside Baki (his hands were bandaged after his first attempt at Wind Sword) and also of the day he'd made Jounin. **_

_**Tsunade, Baki, Hinata, Gaara and all his ninja comrades were standing beside him; as the old hag gave him his Jounin jacket. But also; in the background, almost hidden by Choji's profile, was a boy who wore a straw hat. He was standing beside a slightly freckled girl, who had short, blonde hair and was wearing a girl's standard shirt and trousers. In her arms, she held a bright blue bundle. **_

_**The boy and girl both looked at him, smiles on their faces. Then their skin began to melt, the bundle screamed as it turned from blue to blood. The girl was still smiling, as her skull was the only thing that remained. **_

_**The boy then spoke, in a twisted cheery voice, **__**"Don't be sad boss. You only cry when you're happy..."**__** He opened his mouth wide, and lighting shot out; right at Naruto's face...**_

_**He shook his head, violently, as the nightmarish day dream left him. Luckily, Tsunade and Sakura didn't notice. But the reason why they didn't was even more horrific. Sakura's eyes, which were full of sadistic pleasure, were watching Tsunade; whose face was ghostly pale, her eyes were wide and her blood was dribbling out of her mouth.**_

_**Naruto's clone was shocked. He glanced at the cup he held, knowing what was laced within. Questions began to run through his mind, but instead of asking; he acted. He dropped the cup and bent down under his desk; mimicking gurgling sounds that Tsunade was making. **_

_**Sakura face cracked into an evil grin as Tsunade fell onto the floor, fidgeting violently as blood spewed from her mouth. Sakura then glanced in what she believed to be Naruto's direction. When she heard the sounds of his apparent death; she gave off a cackle of laughter, saying as she finished her laughter, "You really were an idiot, Naruto-baka! I can't believe that you became the Hokage, a real ninja wouldn't have been killed so easily!"**_

_**The clone soon stopped his 'sounds of death' too fain death; but it was not as easy to stop the anger, an anger he had not felt in ages, coursed through his body. **__{That... that BITCH! WHY DID SHE KILL TSUNADE; WHY DID SHE TRY TO KILL ME!} ___

_**His questions were answered, as the pink harried harlot continued her jeering, "But even though you could never, not in a chance of hell, beat my Sasuke-kun; this will make his homecoming truly special!"**_

_**Naruto's clone was in a state of both extreme surprise and extreme anger. One side of him was working on what was happening, the other was screaming for the whore's blood. For now his calmer side had one as he formulated his theory. **_

_**Sakura had been on Sasuke's side for Kami knows how long, and she had been feeding them false Intel; saying that Sasuke was no were near the village. But from what she said, it sounded like he was closer then imagined, and was about to attack the village!**_

_**Sakura turned away from the presumed dead Hokage, saying out loud as she did, "Now that the Baka is taken care of; I better meet up with Mizuki at the academy! He'll be pleased to know that the useless weakling is dead!"**_

"_**Useless am I, Sakura-Baishun-fu*1*?" She stopped in her tracks; by both the voice and steel, that was pressed against her neck, of her indented victim. Naruto continued, in a low, cold and deadly voice, "Well aren't you the one to talk? Considering that you had to rely on our trust in you to kill us. To try and kill me, your leader and former teammate, plus your own Sensei." He looked back at Tsunade's body, which was pale and spread-eagled on the floor, and continued, in the same tone as before, "She was your teacher, the one who made you strong and confident when you felt useless. And you went behind her back, took advantage of her trust in you, and repaid her with poison." **_

_**He turned his glare to the back of her head, which was so intense that it might catch alight from the sparks of furry that radiated from the glare, and continued, in a slightly higher tone yet the cold was still there, "You know something, Sakura? Before this, I considered you as my sister; one of the most important people in my life..."**_

_**She gave off a harsh laugh before saying, in a mocking tone, "'One of my precious people', ha! Like anyone in this village consider you to be a human being! You're just a demon..."**_

_**Naruto then gave off an even harsher laugh, which intimidated the kunoichi, before replying, in a voice of pure hatred, "And you're just a back-stabbing, traitorous whore! Looks like Sasuke and you do have something in common." He then pressed the kunai harder into her skin, causing a bead of blood to sliver down her collar bone, and whispered into her ear, "Now I would gladly end your life know, Baishun-fu. But I think the real me would want to end your worthless life."**_

_**Sakura's eyes widened, as the sound of a clone dispersing rang in her ears. **_

_**That clone's memories were now Naruto's memories, that clone's shock was his shock and that clone's anger was his anger. Naruto's happiness, which had been as high as the clouds, were now as low as the fiery mantle. His hands shook in Hinata's, in either rage or dumbstruck he did not know, and his face contorted. **_

"_**Naruto-kun?" asked Hinata, in a quavering voice; as the looks on his face told her the reply that she did not wish or think would happen. Naruto gazed at his girlfriend, the images of Tsunade's corpse and of Sakura's leering face were flying through his mind. He tried to speak, to explain his odd behaviour, but was foiled by the events of the next second. **_

_**A scream, no a chorus of distant screams, had reached Naruto's ears. He spun his head round to face the direction of where the screams were coming from...**_

"_**I'd better meet up with Mizuki at the academy..." that were the words that Sakura said, in her triumphant monologue. Surely...no...They can't...they wouldn't dare...**_

_**But the truth was plain to see, or hear, as another scream was vaguely heard by Naruto's ears. The Hokage was now frozen in both sickness and horror. Mizuki, who had thought to be in prison, would stoop that low; but Sakura...? She had shown she would cut down lives for her 'beloved' but to quell the lives of children... **_

_**Naruto found it a bitter pill to swallow; that just like Sasuke, he got the feeling that he'd never truly known her...and just like Sasuke, he'd accepted her like family; even when the bonds were hollow...**_

"_**Naruto, what's wrong?" asked Hinata; who'd seemed to have not heard the sounds of the barbaric crimes that Sakura was committing. Her face was now lined with sorrow, as Naruto's reactions told her a story she didn't want to hear. Naruto looked back at her, a pained expression plastered on his face, as he tried to think up a response.**_

_**He wanted to say yes, he wanted to tell her of what he'd just seen and also he wanted her comfort; as his emotions were in complete disarray. But as the sounds grew louder, loud enough for Hinata to notice but not to understand, his mind steered into the state of what he now was; Hokage. **_

_**He let go of Hinata's hands, and ordered, in a tone of complete authority, "Hinata, I need you to find Shikamaru, Kakashi, Yamato and all the other Konoha ninjas! Tell them that Sasuke is about to invade, and that they must regroup at the main gate as planned!" He turned on his heels, continuing his orders, "Tell Shikamaru that I will be there momentarily if he arrives before me, and...!" **_

_**But Hinata interrupted him, in a confused and scared tone: "Wait, what are you talking about? Sakura's team reported that Sasuke was no were near the village..." **_

_**Naruto interrupted, in a hurried voice and with his back still turned, "Hinata, Sakura has..." But a yell broke him off, a yell that Naruto knew well... **_**A scared nosed, dolphin haired man's face, flashed before Naruto's eyes... **

**No...Not him...anyone but him...**

_**Naruto, now driven by extreme urgency, turned on his heel to Hinata, and yelled, "Just go! I'll explain later!" He then turned back to face the direction of the academy, and began to sprint. He heard Hinata call after him, pleading him to explain what was happening. But the now apparent screams of the academy students, as the building came into sight, drove all the thoughts and sounds of his lover out of his head. **_

_**He landed in front of the academy door...**_

"Hey Naruto, wake up."

The blonde jerked awake, having fallen into sleep as well as memory, and stared upwards at his awakener. There was no mistaking that black, pineapple shaped hair and lazy voice. Shikamaru was giving Naruto his old, bored gaze; not like his serious, alert and humourless glare he had after his son died.

He continued, in his uninterested tone, "Not that I'm interested, but why are you asleep here? There are better spots for a nap then against the Hyuuga compound's wall, on the ground."

Naruto got to his feet, brushing off the dust that had blown oh his clothes as he did so, and replied, and lied, "I was tired and I didn't feel like scouring the village for a better place to sleep. I'd thought that you who understand something like that, Shikamaru."

Shikamaru raised an eye brow, and stated "'Scouring? I never thought you'd know such a big word as a baka."

Naruto was annoyed by this and so replied in a cool yet edgy voice "And I'd never thought you'd be able to walk, you're so lazy. I guessed that Choji carried you to school; but it seems that you have some ability in the term of walking. As little, as it may be."

Shikamaru was now completely shocked; even if he did not look it. He never had a proper talk with Naruto; he'd just guessed his nature from his boasts and failures. But now facing him, Naruto seemed a lot more...serious?

His face was not wearing the vague or go-happy expression it usually bore; it was calm, mature and...Maybe...older? Why older? Why did that word spring to mind, as Shikamaru's gaze became mildly calculating as it stared at Naruto's face? Because no matter how hard he looked, even though Naruto was as old as he was, his eyes gave of the aura of age and experience. Just like his father, that ninja he had met (Asuma) and also the 4th... _{Bah, why am I bothering? This is just too troublesome} _thought the young genius.

He shrugged his shoulders; as he changed the topic, "Whatever; why were you sleeping there? I saw you pace around, looking at the compound gate, before you took your little nap. You looked like a nervous wreck."

Naruto grunted, as small yet faint blush creeped into his cheeks, "Why are you interested? Don't your concerns only consist of sleeping and eating?"

Before Shikamaru could reply; a yep of pain sounded behind the wall of the compound. Naruto and the lazy boy both turned towards the sound; as they both recognised the owner of the voice. Shikamaru was concerned, but Naruto was more than that. _{That's Hinata! What's happening back there!}_

Naruto instantly went to investigate, with Shikamaru on his tail. They both went through the gate, which was surprisingly open, and soon found the reason of her distress. Hinata was slumped on the ground and standing over her was a face Naruto knew well; except filled with smugness that he had not seen since his defeat at the jinjuriki's hands.

Speaking of that smug face, it was now leering at Hinata, who had a bleeding lip and a defeated look on her face as she lay on the courtyard floor, as he taunted, "Get up, Hinata. Or are you going to except your fate and stay down like you belong."

Hinata tried to get up, but an unseen injury seemed to take its toll on her, keeping her the strength to stand. Seeing her like this, caused Naruto to feel an all too familiar anger; though not as potent or intoxicating as when the two traitors brought it out.

Still, the ex-Hokage stormed over to Neji, even though Shikamaru tried to stop him, and exclaimed, in an angry voice, "Hey, what the hell is going on here!"

Neji looked up and replied, in a sharp and uncaring voice, "This does not concern you." Hinata also looked up; and her face was both shocked and glad as her eyes fell upon her crush. However, her face showed depression and hopelessness; for she felt even more pathetic as her crush now must think she too was a failure.

Naruto saw this, out of the corner of his eye, which caused him to reply, in a heated yet moderate tone, "Doesn't concern me, eh? You're beating up one of my classmates and calling her worthless; I think my concern is well placed, don't you agree?"

Hinata's face flushed as she heard these words. _{Naruto noticed me at the academy? He considers me his classmate?} _

Neji gave the blonde a closer look; which caused him to smirk at Naruto. "I recognise you" he said, in an uncaring and taunting voice, "You're the dead last of her year. How quaint, a loser looking out for another loser."

Naruto face showed impassiveness at these words, as he replied, "And you're Neji, the rookie of last year's class. Funny, you're just like our year's rookie; you look, and sound, like a two inch dick."

Neji grinded his teeth as the ploy to get the blonde angry backfired on him. Hinata was surprised; not only was Neji was losing his cool, but also that Naruto seemed different. His usually over- loud mouthed, gusto was now reasonably loud and calm. His face had lost its go-happy expression and was now, at the moment, quite serious. But what really seemed out of place were his eyes, for they seemed to be...older?

Her chain of thought was cut, however, when Naruto continued "Anyway, you still haven't answered my question. What the hell were you doing?"

Neji gave him a hard glare with his opaque eyes, as he answered, in a curt manner, "I was just reminding her of her destiny; that being, that she will be nothing more than a weak and useless loser."

Inside Naruto, his thoughts were all screaming _{How dare he say that about Hinata-chan! Let's wipe that smug off his face; beat him to a pulp!} _On the outside, Naruto's face was unreadable; his tone also hid his anger, as he said blankly, "'Her destiny'? What a load of claptrap."

As Neji's gaze heated; Shikamaru crept around the two conversationalists towards Hinata, who was still having difficulty in standing. Even though Shikamaru thought it was troublesome, he had decided to get Hinata out of harm's way; for his senses guessed that Naruto's and Neji's verbal exchange will soon turn physical.

As he helped Hinata to her feet, he glanced at the two boys, thinking; _{Now if this does go physical, Neji will probably win; he having a bloodline and a year's worth of experience to back him up while Naruto isn't even a shinobi. I don't think I'll be able to stop him getting into it, but I can make sure he isn't hurt bad}._

While Shikamaru supported Hinata to walk back to where Shikamaru once stood; Naruto continued, in a blank tone, "I mean, how do you know what her destiny is? If you had some kind of 'vision of the future' that showed you her destiny; then you're probably touched in the head."

Neji's face contorted in rage, as he snapped, "Why should I listen to you! You're just a loser, like her, and are going to be one for the rest of your life! Such is the fate of all failures!"

Naruto's eyes then began to returned some fire, but not as blazing as the destiny boy's, as he replied, in a sceptical tone, "There you go again, going on about destiny and fate as if they were true. All you're saying is that people can't change; that there doomed to be either a success or a failure for the rest of their lives, but that's not true."

Naruto's voice changed as he burst into speech, into a firm and carrying tone, "The future is not set in stone and nor does it change by sitting on your arse and waiting for it to happen. We forge our own paths, our own destinies, with the decisions we make and the trials that life brings, being either good or bad. Hinata may not be strong now, but that does not mean she is a failure now or going to be for the rest of her life."

Hinata's face turned scarlet as she heard these words from her crush. _{Naruto doesn't think I'm a failure. I'm so glad...}_

Shikamaru on the other hand was completely stunned. He never thought, not in a million years, that Naruto, the dumb, loudmouthed idiot, could speak with such charisma. _{He's never acted like this before; he always seemed to be a complete baka...} _

But in truth, Shikamaru never really knew Naruto; he just ignored him and classed him a troublesome idiot. Now, however, Naruto sounded like the 4th, confident and commanding. Shikamaru's thoughts were all asking different questions; and it was a compete drag. 

Naruto then readied himself, raising his hands into a battle stance, as he continued, "Now I don't care if you're the rookie of every class since the village was founded; I'm going to show you, that not only can hard work and determination can make even the weakest bud strong, but that people can change, for the better and for worse, even if I have to knock it into your thick skull!"

Neji, who had been shaken by the blonde's words, was at first surprised before reverting to his harsh persona, as he replied in an angry tone, "As if you could! You'd just lose, such is your fate!"

Naruto just gave Neji a hard stare, as he replied, "Then prove it. Let us see who is right; if you're not too much of a coward."

For what seemed an age; opaque starred into blue, cold vs determination, the past vs the unspeakable future. Then, right in the middle of their staring ground, two kunai clashed together.

Neji lunged forwards, a gentle fist jab was primed, his byakugan blazing fiercely. The blonde jumped back, dodging the blow by inches, and as he landed back on the ground; he formed the ram and bellowed, "**Shadow Clone Jutsu**!"

Neji raised his hands and planted his feet into a defensive stance, as ten, identical copies of the blonde were now in a circle around the young Hyuuga. He smirked, thinking that they were just illusions. How wrong he was.

On the sidelines; Hinata was silently rooting for her crush while Shikamaru just stated, in a bored tone "Naruto really hasn't changed; using the clone jutsu, even though he completely failed at them at the academy, isn't going to work on a..."

He was cut off by the sound of the clones popping there knuckles. Hinata turned a bewildered eye to Shikamaru, saying: "Illusions don't pop their knuckles."

All the clones gazed at the original; who gave them a nod. As one, they all pulled put a kunai and threw it at Neji. The Hyuuga, once realising that they were corporeal, prepared himself to doge the incoming projectiles.

The clones, however, had a different idea. All the Naruto formed the Ram seal; and yelled: **"Shadow Kunai Clone Jutsu!"** The ten kunai were joined by what seemed ten-thousand kunai.

Neji broke a sweat, thinking _{Shoot, I didn't believe I would have to use this.} _ He then quickly spun on the spot, yelling **"Rotation!" **A dome of blue chakra surrounded Neji; just as the first kunai were about to hit their mark.

They all either bounced off or turned into puffs of smoke. Neji finished his jutsu facing the original Naruto, and the Hyuuga had a smirk on his face. "This jutsu is the ultimate defence. You have no chance of..."

He stopped in mid-sentence as the clones all threw more kunai at the prodigy. He in turn began to rotate again.

Back on the side-lines; Hinata was shocked to see that Neji knew how to do the Rotation. Shikamaru was thinking something completely different. _{If he knows he can't hurt him when he performs that jutsu; why is Naruto...} _ But then, it came to the genius.

"I hope Naruto wins" murmured the lavender eyed kunoichi. She had complete faith that he would do his best; but Neji was very strong...No! She must believe in Naruto; he will win this!

"I think he will" stated Shikamaru, in a slightly curious tone. "I mean, I never thought that Naruto would even dream to use that tactic."

Hinata gave him a questing look and he looked back with an expression that read 'watch and see'.

Neji stopped spinning, a trickle of sweat was on his brow but his smirk was still firmly in place. "I told you, nothing can..." But then Neji saw Naruto was about to fire another volley; so he spun on the spot again. The sounds of thudding kunai never came; and now he thought about it, he never heard the last one either.

As he stopped spinning, now tired as hell, he heard the chortles of Naruto's clones.

"Gee, what a dumbbell!" cried one of the clones, in mirth. "We didn't even throw the last two volleys; we just faked it!"

The other clones joined in and laughed there hardest; while Neji stood there, tired and angry. "What so funny, loser!" yelled the Hyuuga, in a tired and strained tone. "This fight isn't over!"

They all, as one, raised their eye brows and taunted "Really? Says the one who's all out of chakra!"

Hinata now realised what Naruto was doing; wasting Neji's chakra by making him use the rotation over and over again. And now Neji was as good as helpless.

WHAM!  
Neji had left himself open for a re-named Naruto classic.

"LEAF-MA-El-STROM!" yelled the clones, as they each landed their own kick; the first in the back, the second in the stomach and the last two on his sides.

As Neji flew up in the air like a mortar bullet; he was greeted by the foot of the real Naruto and the last words of the attack: "TIDAL WAVE BARRAGE!"

Needless to say; Neji was now heading straight for the solid ground. As he collided with the earth, the clones of Naruto all poofed away in a cloud of smoke.

Naruto landed right next to the semi-conscious Neji, not as graceful as he would have liked, but beggars can't be choosers. He glanced down at Neji, who managed to roll over onto his side and then say, in a tired, exhausted voice: "H-how d-did I lose? You're just a failure; not even a genin...how?"

Naruto's eyes showed no emotion, yet his face was stern. When he spoke, he spoke in a calm and clear tone, "I won because I chose to win. I am not bound by fate. Neither are you."

He then turned his back on the defeated ninja, whose face was showing deep thought and soul searching, and began to walk over to Hinata and Shikamaru. Hinata began to blush like mad, but she still managed to stutter "T-that was b-brilliant N-Naruto-kun."

A small, yet almost un-noticeable, blush crept into his cheeks; which was noticed by the Nara. _{Hmm, looks like he has a crush on Hinata...but why does he go yelling about how he likes Sakura all the time? Wait, why am I even thinking about this? This doesn't concern me.}_

Naruto took a moment to look into Hinata's eyes...the same lavender eyes...now, even after all the proof he had seen, he knew he was in the past...a past with Hinata...

He then realised he was staring at Hinata; who's cheeks were now glowing like a bright beacon. He quickly changed the conversation around, by muttering "Umm, sorry 'bout the mess." He gestured round to the small crater and the scattered kunai.

Hinata did not help to lighten this awkward situation, as she continued to blush bright red. _{Why was he staring at me like that? He looked so happy, contented...does he...c-could he...?} _

Shikamaru, who had been as quiet as one of his shadows, decided to break the silence: "So Naruto," he began, causing both of the love birds to jump in surprise, "care to explain how you managed to defeat a Genin, who has about a year's worth of experience, while you're not even a Genin yourself?"

Naruto bit his lip as he pondered on how he should respond: _{Ok, this is vexing. I got to admit, I did kind of overdo that fight (beat-up) and I was stupid enough to do it in front of Shikamaru. I doubt he'll figure out I'm from the future, but he will be suspicious of how I've changed so fast in character. Let's hope he buys my 'playing the fool' excuse.} _

"Well," began Naruto in a calm voice, "Looks like the cats out the bag." He gave a slight chuckle as he felt the combined gazes of curiosity from Shikamaru and Hinata, both waiting for the blonde to tell his tale. "You see, I'm not really an idiot...or at least at the level of idiocy you think I am."

Shikamaru raised and an eyebrow, while Hinata grew even more curious and asked, "W-what do mean? W-were you p-pretending to be an idiot all this time, s-since you joined the A-Academy?"

Naruto turned to look at Hinata and answered, while trying to stop himself from staring to intently at her beautiful face: "Yeah it was just an act, Sun- I mean Hinata-chan—oh..." He looked away from her; his whisker marks were standing out against his blushed skin.

As Hinata began to blush as well, Shikamaru found himself the only one probing Naruto to continue, with a nod of the head. It was extremely troublesome.

"Umm," he began again, his crimson blotch finally starting to die down, "Well, the reason why I acted like an idiot was to get noticed by people."

Shikamaru's brow muscles were having a thorough workout today as the hairs above his eye lids rose again, while inquiring, "Why need to act like an idiot? If you got the smarts..."

Naruto interrupted the genius, by giving off a mirthless bark of laughter and saying in a matching tone: "Ha, like they ever paid attention to me! Did you ever once notice them asking me if I knew what the answer was for a question in class, before Iruka became the teacher that is?"

Shikamaru, now he thought about it, realised that was true, never once had a teacher even acknowledge Naruto's presence. In fact, he remembered a time when he saw Naruto eagerly write in a test paper, Shikamaru had just not bothered with it, and when the teacher collected that paper he just threw it into the bin without a single glance at it.

Looking back now it seemed really odd how the teachers treated Naruto, before and after he started his pranking spree. Not only were the teachers treating him like a leper, but so were all the other adults. {_Why? Why did they treat him like that? And why am I so interested? Damn troublesome!_}

Hinata also knew what Naruto was talking about. She had seen the adults shunning him, heard them tell their children that he was a demon and much, much worse. She had always felt so sorry on how he was pushed away for no apparent reason besides being alive, even before he began his pranks. And they were all harmless as well; besides the paint bomb under one teacher's chair...the other paint bomb in the teacher's lounge...generally all the pranks that involved paint bombs.

"Since silence is a form of assent, I take it you agree with me," voiced Naruto, bring both his listeners out of their deep thoughts and ponderings. Once their gaze retuned to him, one face showed laziness while the other embarrassment, Naruto continued his explanation: "So yeah, that's why I played the fool; even went so far as to pretend to like Sakura." He shivered at that thought, violently.

While more mystery dawned upon the pineapple's brain, hope and joy lifted in the Hyuuga's heart. "You don't like Sakura," she asked, with no trace of a stutter but had a trace of happiness in her words.

"Don't like," asked Naruto, in an incredulous outcry: "What's there to like?" He then began to count off on his fingers, saying as he did so: "First, she hits me with her man like strength. Secondly, she has the voice and pitch of a Banshee; with the face to match. Thirdly, how many people do you see with bubble-gum pink hair? I wouldn't be surprised if there were strands of it among her hair roots. And finally, she is as hollow as a rotten, wooden music block; not to mention as off key as one to boot. I only pretended to like her to annoy the stupid Uchiha. The day I would want to date her is the day that pigs, Ino not included, can fly!"

After he finished his rant, Shikamaru was now fully convinced that Naruto disliked (understatement of the year) Sakura. Hinata, on the other hand, was mentally dancing g the samba. Her inner self was screaming: "YES! NARUTO HATES THAT BITCH, NARUTO HATES THAT BITCH...!" Hinata sweat dropped due to her inner self singing in a samba style, but she had to agree with it.

They were all brought round, literally, by the sound of a throat clearing. Neji had regained mobility. His face was slightly battered; a couple of bruises and the evidence of a later shiner, but you could still see the look on his face, which was calm and collective, and dare I say it, nervures.

Still, Naruto gripped his hands slightly and the others were put on edge; Shikamaru tensed and Hinata became fearful. Neji looked straight into Naruto's eyes, and said, quietly: "Naruto, I apologize for calling you a loser." His tone was a bit flat, but since honesty was detected, Naruto lessened his grip and reduced the harshness, that he him-self had not noticed, in his gaze.

"I think, I'm not the one you should be apologizing to," replied Naruto, his voice not stern but neutral; his hand gesturing to Hinata.

Neji nodded and faced Hinata; who was silent but not so embarrassed as before, or ever, in the company of Naruto. Neji, still keeping eye contact with the lavender eyed girl, gave a small bow, whilst saying in an apologetic, yet slightly forceful, tone: "Hinata-sama, I apologize for my rudeness. I shouldn't have called you a failure either."

Hinata was taken aback by this, not once had any Hyuuga in her family had called her Sama; for she was considered the black sheep of the clan. Neji was about to straighten up, when Naruto said: "Neji, I just like to point out one thing, before you go." Neji slowly turned to face Naruto; wonder was clearly plastered on his face as he guessed on what the blonde would say next.

"I know that you probably hate the main branch..." began Naruto, his voice even and calm, "...and rightly so. Putting seals that can fry your brain with a single hand gesture, on people that's supposed to be your own family, never seemed right to me." Neji went a bit rigged, but continued to listen to Naruto all the same. "Now with that in mind, do you think Hinata is weak or kind?"

This puzzled all, only a moment though for Shikamaru, until Naruto continued his query, explaining what he meant to the two Hyuuga's: "Because, if you think about it, couldn't she have activated your bird cage seal during those times that you...'tutored' her?" A look of shock and realisation dawned upon Neji's face; while Hinata just hung her head, as if the idea of her doing such a thing was repulsive.

Neji noticed this and read the true signs of her emotions. He stood there, in silent contemplation, as he asked him-self his own contemplation: _{Am I a genius, or a stubborn coward?} _

The blonde seemed to have read the boy's mind, and as if he was replying to that self-asked question, he said aloud: "Anyone can make mistakes; but not all have the chance to make up for them."

Neji, Hinata, Shikamaru (who was feeling quite sleepy by now) and Naruto all stood there in silence; one staring at another's soul search whiles the others either stared in awe at the observer, the other in question.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, Neji sank into another bow; this time giving a true, non-forced plea for redemption, saying: "Hinata-sama, I honestly, truly am sorry for all the wrongs I have committed against you. I-I was being stupid, blinded by my arrogance and anger, of being called the 'Hyuuga Prodigy' whilst being looked down on by the other main branch members. I used you to vent my rage, unjustly though it was. If there's any way I can make amends, all you need do is ask."

Hinata was stunned with no hints of blush on her cheeks. She was mixed with relief, surprise and other such emotions; rendering her in a state where she was neither shy or bold. She looked at Naruto; the one she secretly loved and the one who had brought such dramatic change to her once sneering, unfeeling cousin. Their eyes met, and Hinata was dazzled by the look in the blonde's sea blue eyes. Calm, authority, and reassurance; the kind of look she had only seen in one man's eyes: the 3rd Hokage. Naruto, his eyes still fixed upon Hinata's lavender pupils, gave a single nod; thus giving Hinata the strength she needed.

Her eyes now on Neji, who was still in a low bow, she said, in a calm, clear voice: "Neji, thank you." The boy looked up, his eyes showing shock that she had forgiven him so easy. "I always knew..." she continued, her voice still calm and devoid of stutter: "...that you were angry; that you blamed the main branch for...your father's death..."

Neji was sent rigid again, as if an old, painful injury had decided to rub more salt on the wound, but did not interrupt. "...and since I was weak, where you are strong, but since I was still above you in status; you took your frustration out on me. Still, I never once hated you, for everyone in the main branch, even my father..." A tear rolled down her cheek, as she began to fall prey to her emotions again.

A hand then rested on her shoulder, giving a reassuring grip to the shaken girl. She looked round, startled, and almost felt her heart leap out of her chest. Naruto was the hand's owner, his eyes where now giving her the same gesture of encouragement as his hand. He gave a small smile, causing Hinata's heart to pump faster and louder, and gave a small nod; and the strength returned to her.

"...t-they two thought me as a failure. But unlike them, you've apologised." She gave a small bow of her own, finishing her speech by saying: "I look forward to working with you as a Kunoichi of this village, and also as my cousin."

Neji's bruised face gave way with a small smile, as he replied: "And so am I, as a Shinobi and your cousin." He then looked at Naruto, his face half curious and half respectful, and finished: "And I look forward to working with you, Naruto. I must admit, I never would have guessed you were so skilful and charismatic."

"Never underestimate you opponent," stated the blonde, his face now smiling a small, smug smile. "Especially if it's me." He then extend his hand out to Neji, who intern took the hand and both exchanged a handshake; a final show of neutral respect for each other. As they both lowered their hand to their sides, Neji gave them all one final nod; then made his way back to the compound; his injuries becoming priority in his mind.

After Neji had gone, the three ninjas to be just stood there until, as one, their tummies gave a large growl of hunger. Shikamaru rubbed his stomach and commented: "All this excitement has made me forget how hungry I was, how troublesome."

"Me to," agreed Hinata, her quite voice returned but the stutter had taken a leave of absents. "We should probably find somewhere else to eat; father won't let me bring in non-clan members."

Naruto had hoped he would get the chance to eat out with Hinata, he only whished Shikamaru wasn't here. He wanted to get to know her better, or at least have an excuse for knowing more than he should know about her, and it would be easier if he didn't have to spread the conversation with Shikamaru.

"Alright," replied Shikamaru, his feet now turning towards the compound gate. "How about we eat Ichiraku's? If there's one thing I'm certain I know about you, Naruto, is that you love ramen to death." Hinata giggled as Naruto gave a shrugged rely of: "True, true."

As they got out of the compound and turned right down the street, a sudden thought struck Naruto. He looked back, towards the left turning, and remembered something. That restaurant, that Hinata wanted to go to on the day of the attack, was actually a renovation of...

"Hey, guys! Wait a moment," cried the blonde haired kid. The other two both came back; questions were all over each other's face. In response to their looks, Naruto explained: "Well, even I get sick of eating ramen sometimes..."

Both Hinata and Shikamaru both exchanged bewildered looks, their sanity in danger of collapsing. Shikamaru turned and marched up to Naruto and pulling at his face, saying: "Ok, that's it. Who are you and where is Naruto."

Naruto pulled away from Shikamaru's attempts to 'pull his mask off'; clutching a sore cheek as he backed away. "One, he's in Konoha, outside the Hyuuga compound and standing right in front of you. Two, I am Naruto Shou Uzumaki, soon to be injured by a pineapple headed boy!"

Hinata, who still didn't believe it was Naruto, went through a couple of hand signs, and finished off by saying:**"Byakugan!" **Her pupils became vivid and veins appeared around her eyes. She took a good look at Naruto, realised what she was doing, and then stopped; her face breaking out in a huge blush. "Y-yes i-its h-him, S-Shikamaru-kun," stuttered the poor girl, her face now resembling a red traffic light.

Shikamaru gave Naruto a hard, calculating glare, and asked: "Since when was your middle Shou?"

"Since I was born," replied the blonde, in a sarcastic tone. "The old man had left my birth-certificate in his office, lying on the side. I took a peep and found out about my middle name." This was not strictly true, he had to search threw tons and thousands of piles of paper work to find his certificate; and that was in the future.

Deciding to move the subject on, Naruto continued: "Right, as I was saying; like any sensible minded person, I occasionally get sick of having ramen. So I've got an idea of someplace else to eat." He pointed towards the left turning, that they took the right of at the Hyuuga compound gate. "I heard that there's a new shop that sells Chinese food on the go. It's quite a wide selection, I hear, and they've got their own seats, just like Ichiraku's."

Shikamaru, who was still suspicious of Naruto, gave a small nod and replied: "Fine, might as well. But I'm not paying for it, period." Hinata, who had gotten over her blush outbreak, also mumbled: "I've left my money at home."

Naruto shrugged, pulling out his old, to him anyways, frog wallet, Gama-chan...Why did he name it again? Anyway, Naruto assures the group, by saying: "All-right, I'll pay. But I'll be excepting repayment."

With that decided, and with...Gama-chan in hand; the trio made their way to the surpassed food stall. When they all arrived, they automatically noticed the stall with a sign reading: 'Chi Eat: Chinese on the go: opens today!'

When they went inside the stall, they noticed it looked almost like Ichiraku's; except was decorated with blue and green and not just red. The chief was a middle age man, scarred face, beady eyes and dark of skin. When he spoke, in an authentic Chinese accent, he spoke in a slow, dumb undertone, saying: "Welcome to Chi Eat. I thank you for choosing to eat here and I hope you will enjoy my cooking." Obviously he was not from Konoha, for anyone who was would have told Naruto to take a hike.

The three kids sat down, Shikamaru on the left while Naruto was in the middle with Hinata on his right-hand side. The seats were comfy, leather made, but as a loyal customer, Naruto will always pick Ichiraku's over this any day. He was only doing this to keep a promise, even though it was made to the future Hinata.

Shikamaru observed the menu, which was placed above the chief's cooking stall, and decided, out loud: "I'll have a try of the chicken and prawn rolls, along with a pot of tea, please." He then yawned starched his arms up into the air, and then placed his head on the counter.

Hinata, meanwhile, ordered a portion of Duck fried rice, the drink having already been ordered by the napping Shikamaru. Naruto ordered a portion of Pork fired rice, his eyes now resting on Hinata, who was looking anywhere but Naruto. As the chief bustled off to prepare their orders; Naruto decided to begin conversation.

During the next five minutes, they talked about 'how was their day' and such mundane topics like that; for Hinata was back to being nervous and was making it difficult for Naruto to start a line of topic that didn't involve things like the weather. After a couple of minutes, their food on the verge of serving, Naruto finally managed to find a topic that could open up to much more: Which people they think they'll get paired with for their ninja teams.

"Well," began Hinata, her blush the size of a walnut; "Since I have the byakugan, I think I'll get paired with Kiba and Shino. Father once said that Hyuuga's are either put into close combat squads or trackers. I-I'm no good at fighting, so I'll only be useful for my Byakugan. Shino will have his bugs, which can be used to drain people's chakra, and Kiba has got Akamaru, they always do everything together."

Naruto winced at the sound of their names; for every mention of their names in the future was always the way of bring Hinata into a sad and depressed state. Shino, in the future, had been a good man and level headed person; and like all of his comrade's deaths, his was always in his waking nightmares.

Now Kiba was a different story, for Naruto and he had many similar qualities, the most troubling was their like of a certain, lavender eyed, girl. He had dead panned Naruto after he had discovered that he and Hinata were dating, even after he had become Hokage. Naruto had never felt like he had stolen Hinata away from him, but Naruto did notice that she was slightly attracted to the semi dog ninja.

Because of that, they had a little bad blood between them for those future years. And on the eve of Kiba's final mission, the one that resulted in his death, they both had a harsh row; resulting in Naruto's last words to be: "Get the fuck out of my office, you fucking bitch spawn!" He had always beaten him-self up over that; and when he was once really depressed, he blamed him-self that he had sent them to their deaths, all because of an imaginary idea that he was trying to take Hinata away from him. After that moment, he tried to avoid her out of guilt; finally stopping on the day of the attack.

But back to the present, Hinata didn't notice him wince, for she was, out of shyness, trying to avoid looking at the blond boy. Naruto decided to fill the silence, by sharing his own idea (or knowledge) of who might/will be his teammates.

"Well if it is those two (yeah, 'if') then you are very lucky. Kiba is an ass sometimes and Shino can sometimes be a bit weird; but I'm probably going to be landed with that shank, Sakura and Emo Uchiha. Sakura will probably be utterly useless and Sasuke will probably do an Uchiha."

"An Uchiha," asked Hinata, her eyebrows raised in puzzlement.

Naruto gave a mirthless laugh and explained: "You know, do what an Uchiha dose best; run away and betray anyone in sight. I mean, let's look at their track record..." He began to count off on his fingers: "One, Madara Uchiha; betrayed the village by trying to kill the first Hokage. Itachi Uchiha; killed his family then became an S class ninja. And apparently, on the night the Kyuubi attacked, the Uchiha were said to have left the moment the thing appeared on the horizon; reason why so many ninja's died trying to kill that thing, they were expecting back from them. I heard there was a lot of discrimination coming from the other ninja clans because of that; and since there's only one left, our favourite Emo king, they practically showered him with praise, just to keep him from doing 'an Uchiha' and go after his brother and make the sharingan extinct in the processes."

After he had finished his long rant, he noticed that Hinata had fallen very quite. Soon though, she spoke up, saying: "Is that why you don't like him, because he gets all the praise of being a genius without any effort while you get pushed on the side lines?"

"Yep," replied Naruto, his little plan of seeding the reason for his dislike of Sasuke had worked, for it didn't make sense if he competed with Sasuke while already being a smarty pants himself. "Plus he looks like traitor material; I wasn't kidding when I said he would probably leave. But, he might prove me wrong..._ {Or I'll have to kill him,} _thought Naruto, as their food was finally ready to serve.

_{I can't let him fall into Orochimaru's or Madara's clutches. If he gets the curse mark, he'll try and leave the village. If he kills Itachi, then Madara will manipulate him into attacking Konoha. That I still don't understand; because according to those notes left by Itachi, the ones found in the original Akatsuki hideout, Madara had planned on murdering the whole Uchiha clan for their betrayal of him when he tried to overthrow the first Hokage. _

_The only reason Sasuke was still alive was that Itachi had threatened both the stupid council members, that had ordered him to kill his family, and Madara, who he worked with to kill the clan, that he will reveal the truth about the Uchiha's own coop d'état; which would have cause the destabilisation of Konoha and also another ninja war (which meant Itachi was serious because he was a pacifist). Either Sasuke had been under some kind of Genjutsu or he was just plain stupid, the latter comes first in my opinion.}_

During this time of thought ranting; Naruto, Hinata and Shikamaru, who had raised his head from sleep, had began to tuck into their meals. Shikamaru eat his rolls slowly, taking great care to take as small bites as he possible could. If it was to savour the flavour, then he should stop talking to the other two, who eat as slow as he did. Naruto was now grateful that Shikamaru was here, for Hinata felt more confident with another company; thus allowing conversation to flow freely.

As the grains of rice disappeared from their bowls and the tea only half drunk, they had exchanged topics on likes and dislikes, hobbies, favourite past times (in which Naruto shock the other two by revealing his like of art) and finally, as they poured the last drops of the brew into each cup, ninja skills.

"Well," started Shikamaru, his bored tone still apparent but only by a vague margarine. "I can do our clan's speciality: the **Shadow Possession Jutsu**. That's about it really, I find it troublesome to work too hard, and learning that was the most troublesome thing I have ever done."

"You find all work troublesome," pointed out Naruto, in a good natured tone. This caused Hinata to giggle and Shikamaru to mutter...you guessed it: "Troublesome blondes."

Naruto cracked a grin, his hand putting down the half finished cup of tea. One of the many things he had missed was a good old, non- Sasuke or Akatsuki related chat. In the early days of the future, before the war had corrupted the mood of Konoha, he would finish his missions, later paper work, draw a little doodle or landscape portrait, and then hang out with his friends; either over a drink, a bowl of ramen or a box of dango.

That last one, the one where he spent quality time with his friends, and girlfriend, were the things he missed. Those moments had been plucked away by the wanton destruction and death that Sasuke had caused. Either there was no time to hang out or the people you hung out with are either dead or dying.

Returning to the conversation; Naruto began his own skill evaluation, saying: "Well, as you saw in with my fight with Neji, my specialties are the **Shadow Clone **and **Kunai Jutsu**." A thought struck him, an idea that might help in the future. All he needed to do was hint: "But I did find this scroll, in the old man's office, that had some jutsus I could probably use in the future."

"Like what, Naruto-kun," asked Hinata in a quite tone.

"Well..." he began, after taking the last sip of his tea and placed the cup down on the counter; "...there was some basic chakra control exercises for one; very useful. But there were some other exercises that were used for elemental jutsus, too."

Shikamaru, who was about to finished his drink, lowered his cups from his lips, and asked: "Elemental jutsus? Isn't that C-A rank material; and why did you look in this scroll anyways?"

Naruto raised his hands up, and replied: "Hey, I didn't steal it, if that's what you mean. In fact, it had my name on it."

"Really," said the genius, his voice slightly accusing and sarcastic laced. "Who would leave something like that in the Hokage's office, apparently with your name on it?"

"Apparently, it was my father." Naruto's voice was quite, but anyone could hear the slight sadness and disgust in is tone. Shikamaru bit his lip and Hinata looked away, with a guilty look in her eyes. They both knew that Naruto was an orphan, alone since he was a kid (which now look very strange to the two teenagers), but judging by the sound of his voice, this subject, of his father, seemed a little sore.

"W-what was h-his name?" Asked Hinata in a tentative, quite voice; her eyes trying to make contact with the blondes blue ones.

"I don't know," he lied, with utter ease, "All it said was that the writer was my father and that he had left me these jutsus so I would become a better ninja."

"Well that's good, isn't it?" queried Shikamaru. "Even if he didn't mention his name, he still tried to..."

"He could have told me my mother's name, or tell me what she did."

The two listeners went silent, understating Naruto's reason for bitterness and sadness; but only of Naruto's lie. In truth his father had left him techniques to make him stronger, but also he had left details of who he, and his wife, was or were. Naruto couldn't go round saying he was the 4th son; the attention that the council would give him could cause his stories and lies to collapse like a house of cards, and he may be even forced to reveal his 'future' secret.

He had only told Iruka he was the 'Yellow Flash's' son because he need to distract him from the fact he had been so calm after doing his first kill, or this times first. Hopefully, Iruka and these two won't swap the stories that the blonde had given them.

Naruto, deciding to move the convocation along, casually dismissed: "Now, enough about me. What about you Hinata? What are you good at?"

Her face blushed, which Naruto thought was cute, and her fingers were pressed together; a habit that the blonde had not seen for years. "W-well," she began, her voice trembling; "I h-have my c-clans G-gekai Genkai, the b-byakugan. There's a-also our c-clan's taijutsu, the Juken. I'm not very good at it..." She hung her head; rosy red gave way to pale white, and continued, in a sad, stutter-less whisper: "My father doesn't think I'm good at anything...nor does anyone else in the clan..."

Naruto examined his crush's face, his stomach began to clench painfully; which had nothing to do with the rice that was slowly being digested through the blonde's gut. He knew that in the far future that Hinata would finally earn the respect that she craved from her family, mainly her father. But that came at the price of watching her teammates die, both at the hands of the treacherous Sasuke. She pretended after their deaths that she had moved on, still remembering them in her heart of course. But Naruto had played the 'happy faced joker/fool' long enough to see past the mask that Hinata had dawned; all cheer and smiles when underneath she was just as sad, or worse.

Naruto, unintentionally, began crushing his empty tea cup as a burning, determined voice in his head yelled: _{No! I am not going to put Hinata through that, the feeling that no one wants you or cares about you, ever again. I'll make sure that her father knows that she is worth something!} _

A plan began forming in the blonde's brain; processed, formulated – Approved! He smiled to himself, appreciating how simple his plan was and how it would benefit both him and Hinata; she will get a confidence boost and Naruto will spend more quality time with the lavender eyed girl. Question was...Will she be conscious long enough to accept?

"So?"

Hinata and Shikamaru both gave expressions of great surprise. Shikamaru, thinking that Naruto was being tackles, was about to give Naruto a harsh telling off; until he saw the blonde's face. Hinata, who was hurt at the apparent dismissal of her shame, began to shed tears; until she to saw the look on Naruto's face.

Naruto's face? Well...it was not uncaring, taunting nor any other negative emotion. It was, in fact, calm, reassuring and maybe...Older? Both Hinata and Shikamaru shook their heads, as the same words pooped into their head: _{Why older?} _

But as Naruto spoke, in a voice of calm that seemed impossible to be coming from a boy who had appeared to be such a loud mouthed knuckle head, those words were thrown aside; one straight out the while the other deeper into his grey matter.

"If they don't accept you, then just ignore them."

Hinata looked taken aback at these words. "Ignore them?" She asked, her voice sounding puzzled but none the less devoid of stutter. "But there my family, how can I just ignore what they say?"

Naruto did not answer immediately, as his gaze fixed upon Hinata; whose blush began to return button sized. "I mean," he continued, his voice recapturing the attention of his audience; "Ignore what they say about you." He sighed and rubbed his chin, as if trying to find the right words to say. After apparently finding them, he lowered his hands to the counter; somewhere about a few cm away from Hinata's.

"Listen; you know how the adults don't like me. They call me..." He frowned, trying to remember what they called him; for, to him, it was so long ago he had completely forgotten the exact harsh words they told.

"A demon," probed Shikamaru; who was now interested in what Naruto had to say.

"Yeah," acknowledged the blonde; "A demon. Thanks Shikamaru, I'd forgotten." Before Hinata asked why he had forgotten the word that had been whispered behind his back to frighten off children from playing with him, Naruto quickly explained; "Because I stopped listening to the adults' years ago; except Iruka and the old man, of course."

Hinata still looked confused at these words as she still hadn't received Naruto's message. Shikamaru, on the other hand, gave a small "Ah..."

Glad that one person had gotten his drift, Naruto continued to explain his message to Hinata. "You see, Hinata...I ignore them calling me a 'demon', along with their other forms of insults and shunning (why they do it I have no idea), and I just become myself, Naruto. Because the other kids didn't play with me, I played pranks on them by myself. Since they weren't helping me at the academy, I trained on my own and I've learnt more by myself then at the academy; well, until Iruka stated teaching, of course."

"So," he continued, a small smile slowly forming on his face; "If your family can't accept you, for not being able to perform to their standards (to be a Hyuuga), then don't accept them and forge your own path; be yourself. Once you find something your good at, work hard and don't give it up; either to your own weakness or to the harsh words of others. It may be hard, the journey long and tiresome, but the end will be rewarding. You'll achieve your dreams and maybe find some new friends, people who do accept you. And if your family still hate your guts, then screw them because you'd found true friendships with others!"

Silence followed these last, inspiring words. Shikamaru had been pleasantly surprised, or down-funded, as he slightly gaped at the whiskered blonde. Hinata had also been surprised by Naruto's charisma as she was also gapping at Naruto, although she did it in awe. Naruto, who was pleased at the affect that his speech had on his friends, was now waiting for them to comment; or at least stop gawking at him. The minutes seemed to trickle by...then...

"Wise words, kid!"

All three ninjas, as one, jumped. Shikamaru's eyes went wide, the widest they had ever been while he was awake, and Hinata gave off a little 'meep'; which actually sounded quite cute. Naruto, meanwhile, had literally jumped out of his seat; his knees colliding hard with the counter. The trio's left over meal was sent an inch into the air, miraculously landing back onto their previous places in a neat pile.

After watching the short display of plate acrobatics; the three kids turned their gaze upon the apparent speaker, the stall owner, who had apparently listened in on their conversation since get go. Ignoring the memory of his plates being at his own eye-level, the chief began to speak; his voice giving off a reminiscence feeling of a warrior telling a whole crowed of some great battle he had once thought in.

"My family didn't accept me either; parents were ex-shinobi and my brother..." He frowned, causing the scars on his forehead to become even more noticeable. "...well, I think he's back home on a mission. Never did see him on the day I left for Konoha, after he promised he'd be there." He gave a small huff of anger. "Anyway," he continued; his voice now back to story teller mode. "My family wanted me to be a shinobi, family tradition was the main reason. I was seventeen, and my brother had just been born, when I realised that being a shinobi wasn't my talent; being still a genin and all while my teammates were jounin."

"But if you were seventeen," interrupted Shikamaru, with an un-characteristic look of interest; "Then you must have fought in the Ninja War."

The man slowly nodded, his left hand beginning to move towards the scars on his forehead. "Yes, I was. Konoha needed more ninjas so they went recruiting in the little villages around the Land of Fire. My parents were already retired and unfit for service, both having lost their middle fingers during a mission. So I, aged eight at the time, signed up for service. I graduated at fifteen..."

He stopped, noticing the odd glares of his audience. "Why did you graduate at fifteen?" Asked Hinata, tentatively; her voice still without a stutter.

The man gave a toothy grin, revealing a few missing teeth, as he gave a jokey answer. "Back then, they trained us till our legs gave way. With the amount of jutsus, fighting styles and medical training they gave us, we nearly all drowned in our scrolls!" He gave a loud, bark of laughter after these words; while the trio all gulped as they tried to imagine what the Academy would be like if this regime of training was still in forced.

"But these days, thanks to civilian council and their complaints about how much it would cost to give any decent training, your school days are a breeze." This last quip had a slightly flat tone to it, particularly the part about the civilian council.

"But back to my story. As I said, I realized that, at seventeen, being a shinobi wasn't my calling." He looked down at his sitting listeners and saw a question; which he promptly answers. "Don't get me wrong, I wasn't a bad shinobi. Here..."

He then suddenly brought his hands together, the eight fingers and two thumbs began spelling out animals at a speed worth of any veteran shinobi. He finished on bird, a common water jutsu seal, and then extended out his hand. When his arm was fully out stretched, the tips of his fingers were only an inch past the counter's edge, he yelled (for obvious effect): **"Water style: Lotus Deal!"**

As soon as he said '**Lotus**'; a small, see-through bud of clear water appeared in the palm of the stall owner's hand. It then opened up and small, gleaming petals of water burst into bloom; each petal glowing a different colour in the light of the day's sun. After the '**Lotus**' had reached full bloom, the man raised his other hand; straitening two of his middle centred fingers. He then, as fast as a bullet, rapped the water plant with his two fingers. The moment his fingers touched the watery surface of the **Lotus**, an exact copy seemed to fly out the other side; right over the tips of the man's out-stretched fingers.

The three ninjas spun in their seats, watching the flying plant's flight. The man, behind them, closed his eyes in deep concentration. He raised his free hand, which he had used to strike the water moulded plant, and spread out his fingers. The mid flight **Lotus** broke into pieces, now just a cloud of water petals. Even though they looked like a disorganised cloud of wedding confetti, made of H2O, the stall owner had full control of each petal. His eyes now open in a focused glare; he moved the fingers of his free hand in small gestures.

Naruto, having been overcome with curiosity of how this jutsu worked, turned round and saw what the stall owner was doing. The blonde soon realised what the man was doing and going to do. He looked back round, just in time to see the cloud break apart into individual petal drops.

_{Dang,} _thought Naruto, as he admired the man's skill. _{Elemental manipulation is always a bitch to learn. But learning to control individual strands of an element, even if it isn't in mid-flight, is on another level entirely.} _

He stopped his mental appreciation in time to see the jutsus finale. Each of the petals began to fly towards a house's wall. As they were about an inch away from the wall, the petals began to grow again. In a flash, thousands of **Lotuses **were in the air; all hurtling towards a poor, unlucky wall. The first **Lotus **hit the wall, and a loud crush was the result.

After about a thousand **Lotuses **hit the wall, with the force of a thousand sledge hammers, it was a surprise the wall was still standing; though the house now looked like it had moved a couple inches. Naruto and Hinata were both stunned into awe inspired silence. Shikamaru, on the other hand, slowly turned around and asked incredulously; "ONLY A GENIN!"

The man shrugged, a sly grin on his face, as he replied; "Rank has no influence on skill. I was actually a medic, working on the home-front in a military hospital. In my spare time, which was brief, I worked on this jutsu: **Lotus Deal. **I never got to use it till I was seventeen." His face was now blank; his hands now at his sides and his eyes looked like they were struggling with an unpleasant memory.

"I was moved to the front-lines as an emergency medic; the commanders thought that a battalion of Stone ninjas were planning to launch an attack on a forest that had a clear path to a Land of Grass village. And they were right." His face creased an expression of tiredness and pain seemed to flit across the lines of the man's face. "They ambushed us when we were sleeping. Half of my friends got killed the moment the attack started.

I was working on a guy's broken leg before the attack so I was one of the first to realise we were under attack." He looked at his right hand, which the three listeners now noticed had a huge scar slashed a cross the palm. "When I exited the med tent, a stray kunai slashed my hand. When I looked at where it had come from, I saw about twenty ninja; all bearing the Rock head bands and where firing kunai left and right."

He sat down, on a hidden stool behind the counter, and absentmindedly began examining his right hand. "The trick behind multiple elemental manipulations," he announced, still looking at the back of his hand; "Is more than concentration. You need willpower, tons of it. Once you've mastered that, you then, when you perform any multiple elemental jutsu like the one I just show you, to have a focus...like a...secondary eye behind the element you're controlling. **(A/N: If any of you have played 'Dark Sector' then it's like the after touch ability; the one that gives you a view of the glade so you can steer it.) **

"So, as I directed each of my **Lotuses **into each of the Rock ninja's chests, I saw each of their final looks of horror as I took their lives." He shivered as a look of staring at a forgotten and unpleasant memory etched on his face.

Hinata and Shikamaru both shared a feeling of phobic discomfort, as their imaginations gave them a horrid vision of what this man must have seen. Naruto, who was no stranger to death, worked out why this man, who seemed to posse's great skill, was cooking Chinese without his name going down in history.

"My spurious..." the man continued; his voice and face now calm and relaxed. "...Wanted me to be prompted so I can fight on the front lines; as I just about saved our group from being wiped out. I said no—"

"What," exclaimed both the Hyuuga and the Nara; their face wide with looks of complete astonishment. "Why?" Asked Hinata; her usually shyness completely forgotten. "Why did you refuse?" It seemed bizarre to her that this man, after proving his worth to his fellow ninja, just gave up a chance to become something in his family's eyes!

The man gave Hinata a sort of pitying look, as he responded in a low, cool undertone: "You won't understand, you haven't experienced it yet; but you will. There will come a time, in each of your ninja carriers, where you must take a life. Some people get over it; some people discover they get a kick from it..."

"And some people discover," interrupted Naruto, his face blank but voice cool; "That they can't cope with taking lives and quit."

The man nodded, his beady eyes giving Naruto a calculating glare. The he stopped and announced, his still cool: "Yes, that's correct. And I'm just that I'm afraid." He looked at all of them, taking in their young, innocent faces, and said: "Look, I'm not telling you not to become a ninja. But if you're not prepared to kill then you might as well quit while you're ahead."

Shikamaru and Hinata both glanced at each other, both wandering the same thing. Naruto, deciding to move on from this depressing subject, inquired; "So what happened next?"

The man, noticing the slight panic he had started, continued his story; his story-teller voice bringing the troubled duo form out of their stares. "Well, after I refused the offer to become a jounin, I was sent back to the home-front to help the wounded. I stayed till the end of the war to help the wounded; I wasn't going to let people die just because I got cold feet at being a shinobi." Naruto had never once considered this man a coward, but any doubts were lifted as he heard these word.

"After the war, I handed in my head band and returned to my village. I was greeted with a seven year old brother and two pissed off parents. Not only had I not learned the clan's secret jutsus (like they wanted me to) but I had quit being a ninja. They were so annoyed by this they disowned me and threw me out on the streets."

Hinata could sympathise with this, except with the throwing out on the street part. Her own father had disowned her without even looking at her; his eyes being on his second daughter: Hanabi.

"But even so, I still had friends and my brother didn't hate me..." He frowned again, scratching his head as he did so. "...Or at least, I think he didn't hate me. He was very hard to read." He still kept on frowning, until Naruto gave him a small cough (as if to say "Hello, were still here.)

He broke off from his frowning and continued his story; "Well, during my stay at my friend's house, I discovered that I had a flare for Chinese cuisine. So, after learning tons of recipes and creating a few of my own, I announced to the village that I was moving to Konoha to open a food stand. My parents tried to stop me, begging me to reconsider being a ninja again. But I found my calling and I wasn't going to stop it to do something I don't want. So after travelling by cart, finding accommodations and getting building permission; I am here talking to you now."

Naruto was the first to speak, for the others were still thinking about the story they just heard. "Thanks for telling us that, Mr..."

The chef smiled and waved his hand, jovially. "Please, just call me Rye. My last name is embarrassing."

Naruto nodded and began pulling out his wallet (aka Gamma-Chan). He was just pulling out some notes from the overstuffed frog wallet, when Rye turned to Hinata. "Now, Miss..." Hinata promptly jumped, both from being pulled out of thought and being called 'Miss'.

Despite that, Rye continued on, in a reassuring tone; "...From what I've heard, you have some family problems to; maybe a few confidence to." There was no arguing with either statement's so Hinata just nodded. "Well just you bear in mind that there is nothing wrong with striking out on your own. I tried that to, as a ninja, because I found my family's jutsus difficult to learn. When I realised that being a ninja wasn't my cup of tea, I found purpose in cooking. So just remember what that young man has said..." He gestured to Naruto, who was pretending to ferret out notes. "...That when you've found your calling, give it all you've got and don't give a rat's ass about anyone who says you can't do it."

She gave a slight giggle at these words and the other two boys cracked small smiles to. But then a thought came to her, causing her to ask; "But how can I find something different? My family won't let me near the public library, just our private one."

Rye pressed his finger on his lips, his brow screwed up in thought. After a few seconds, in which Naruto had found the right amount of notes and Shikamaru had laid his head on his arms on the counter, he gave a simple reply of; "Well, all three of you are ninjas, right?" Naruto and Hinata nodded, Shikamaru also motioned his head into his arms as a sign of conformation. "Then why don't you train together?"

Shikamaru feelings were obvious, as he gave a sleepy grunt of "To troublesome" into his folded arms. Naruto sat bolt upright, unintentionally pulling out his money as he did so. The blonde's face was blank to the world, but inside he was cheering; _{Yay! Thank you, Rye! You saved me the trouble of asking her myself. This way, she might not faint.}_

Hinata, meanwhile, was dangerously close to that certain bodily shut down as her cheeks became cherry red. _{Training...} _thought the lavender eyed girl as she cast a shy glance at Naruto; whose face was still blank and unreadable. _{...With Naruto? Oh, but he wouldn't...Yet, he seems to be different _**(A/N: No shit) **_and he did fight Neji for me...}_

Naruto, after a minute of mind celebration (and another for mind reassurance), turned to face Hinata, his payment for the lunch still clasped in his hand. His face had dropped its unreadability and was now showing a shyness that rivalled Hinata. Hinata noticed Naruto's own beacons or red, causing her own blush to disappear.

"So, umm...Hinata..." Said girl was taken aback; the boy who had showed such charisma not so long ago, was now mumbling like a school grader asking a girl out on a date. "...Umm...How about it; you know, training?"

Hinata, whose blush was seemingly being transferred to the blonde, did not answer at first. Naruto, who now looked like a traffic light (except that his green light was bright orange), took the pause as a sign saying no. "I, umm, understand if you don't want to do it..."

Hinata, registering Naruto's sulky and sad tone, quickly shook her head; whilst saying just as quickly: "No, no; it's alright. I'd like that, actually..." She gave a sheepish smile, retaining some of the blush that Naruto had apparently stolen.

Naruto looked up, his blue eyes meeting her lavender ones. "Really, you mean it? I mean...umm..." He hung his head, the blush appearing to have weighed down his face at last.

Rye, who took a moment to admire how cute this scene looked, decided to break the silence with some more advice and another story. "Aw, you two remind me of when I was an academy student. There was a girl I use to hang out with, was a shy as anything. You wouldn't call her shy now; heck, I would have never believed that she was ever shy if I hadn't met her!"

Rye's gaze soon became misty as he seemed to remember old, happy memories. "Ah, yeah...Those were the days when I dreamed to be a famous ninja. Now my dream is...shucks..." He sighed and wiped some nonexistent dust from off his shoulders. "I think I've kept you three for long enough..."

"No, gone on," probed Naruto and Hinata; both curios to hear this man, who've they have both grown to admire in such a short space of time. Shikamaru appeared to be uninterested, while he propped his head on one side to let his ear point up at the line of conversation.

"Well..." Rye began slowly, his face obviously showing enjoyment in telling more stories. "My dream now is to make this stand..." He gestured at the inner walls of his stand. "...A restaurant." He then sighed and looked up to the ceiling; his face showing a look of longing. "And on the opening day; I dream that my parents will walk through the restaurant door, sit down and begin to talk about what they're going to eat. Then I'll got up to their table and take their order. They won't say anything yet; not till I come back with their meal in record time. And after they eat my food, they'll both stand up and say 'That's our son, Rye; the great chef and owner of Chi Eat restaurant.'" Rye wiped away a single tear from off his cheek; the beauty of his dream overwhelming him.

While Hinata and Shikamaru smiled at the Rye's dream of acceptance, Naruto hung his head; this time weighed down by guilt. He knew full well that on that day, the day that Chi Eat becomes a restaurant, Rye's parents will not walk through his door; maybe a Sound Ninja, but not his parents. They would not sit down and talk about what they'll order; they would walk over to the counter and put Rye's head on a platter.

Naruto had many things to regret on that day; now the picture of Rye, smiling happily from behind his restaurant counter, as he waited for his parents to walk through his door. Thinking about it, even if the invasion had not been on that day, Sasuke's army would have killed Rye's family as they ransacked the Land of Fire like they did every other elemental country.

_{No,} _thought Naruto, angrily balling his hands into fists. _{I'm here now; I can stop that day from ever happening! I __**will**__save my village, I_ **will **_save my friends and I_ **will **_make sure that Rye's parents will walk through his door; even if I have to push them through it myself!}_

He raised his head; a look of determination was spread across his face. This was soon dropped and a happy expression was dawning on his face; which was not over played but was a true visage of happiness. Noticing that he was still clasping a handful of crisp Yen notes (Japanese currency), Naruto extended his hand towards the sitting Rye; cheerily saying: "Thanks for the food, and the stories!"

"It was my pleasure," answered Rye; who, while still sitting down, took the Yen off Naruto's hands. As Naruto and Hinata stood up, Shikamaru still trying to fain sleep, Rye exclaimed; "Hey! You've given me too much!"

Naruto hesitated as Rye tried to give the blonde back a couple of Yen notes. The boy then put a hand on the note baring fist of Rye and pushed it back, saying: "No, it's for your restaurant; keep it."

Rye looked surprised for a second before nodding, putting the Yen in a small box under the counter as he did so. "Thank you...?"

"Naruto," replied the blonde; "Naruto Uzumaki." He then turned to Shikamaru and asked, loudly; "You coming, lazy brains?" A huff was his response. "Fine, suit yourself." He, and Hinata, both went on their way; both trying to engage in conversation that did not involve one of the other blushing like a tomato.

It was awhile before a word was made in the Chi and Eat stand; Shikamaru was resting his head and Rye was clearing away the debris of the trio's meal. When the silence was broken, it was by Rye muttering; "Why?"

Shikamaru raised his head, deciding that sleeping here was impossible, and queried: "What do mean by why?"

"Why do people call that boy a demon," stated Rye, a look of confusion and distaste was on his scarred face. "I've been in Konoha for a week and every time I've heard of that kid, the person utters his name in contempt."

"I always thought it was because he pranked everyone," stated Shikamaru.

"No," said Rye, "I don't think it's got anything to do with pranks. They way they talk about him...it must go a lot deeper than pranks." He shook his head and gestured in the direction that Naruto and Hinata went, his face streaked with confused anger; "And after talking with him, I really can't understand why they call him such things! The only thing that bothered me was..." He bit his lips, trying to find the right words...

"He seemed older?"

Rye's eyes widened in astonishment, his head slowly began to nod. "Yes, that is the exact word I thought. It's just...I really...Don't know why. He's only a kid, but his voice..." He then slowly shook his head, muttering in defeat; "I just can't put my finger on it. That kid is a mystery; he didn't act like how the villagers say he acts."

Shikamaru was half listening to Rye, as his own eyes were staring at the place where Naruto and Hinata had turned a corner. _{Your right about that, Rye,} _thought Shikamaru, his eyes still giving the wedge of wall, the one the Naruto disappeared behind, a hard and calculating glare.

_{I just can't believe that Naruto, who always seemed to be such a complete idiot, had faked it all; just so he can get attention from the adults. And there's the other thing; why do all the adults, except for a chosen few, despise Naruto? It just doesn't add up, all he ever did was play a few pranks. And that feeling that he should be...older than his age, is just even more troublesome!}_

As Shikamaru stood up, his legs working on automatic, he looked over his options. The first, and most preferable, was to drop the subject entirely and ignore Naruto. The seconded was to find out the blonde's secret, for Shikamaru knew that Naruto must be hiding something.

He soon reached a cross-road; left would lead him straight home and right would take him to Naruto (for that was where he and Hinata had went). Shikamaru looked at both turnings, his mind deciding not only his route, but his future course of action.

"It will be a complete and utter drag..." he muttered, whilst turning ninety degrees on the spot. "...But if I leave it now, it will be a constant drag." The young, lazy genius began to stride forwards; right on the path that Naruto took.

As his own figure disappeared behind the corner, Shikamaru gave off an uncharacteristic cry of "This will be troublesome, but I will find out your secret; Naruto Shou Uzumaki!"

*Many hours later*

As the blue sky of day gave way to the grey clouds of night, the door of Naruto's apartment opened, which revealed a sweaty, tired and shopping loaded blonde. His right side weighed down by the three bags of equipment, food and clothing, as he staggered towards his apartment table.

Depositing the bags of rare merchandise, (rare for him at least), Naruto wiped a strand of sweat from his brow. As the back of his hand rubbed across his face, the boy saw his reflection in the mirror.

He smiled to himself, as he observed his jumpsuit-less appearance. After he and Hinata had left Chi Eat, he had asked her to assist him in doing a task he had never been able to do; shopping!

Armed with two henges and a girl's advice in fashion, the disused duo stormed Konoha's best clothes store. While Naruto was a sweet faced, grey haired civilian boy, Hinata took the role as a kind faced and slightly plum mother. With her help they managed to not only fool the people who had sworn 'Never to sell so much as a ragged cloth' to Naruto, but also helped him to find outfits that looked quite smart yet very discreet; the sort of clothes that a shinobi would use on a public mission that didn't stand out but could still fade into the background when needed.

Back to the present time in Naruto's apartment, Naruto was checking out his new, favourite clothes in the mirror. He was wearing a pair of dark grey, baggy trousers; a black, short sleeved T-shirt that had lines of orange that stretched from the bottom corners to the underneath of his armpit. These strands of orange were obscured by the dark green jacket he wore over the T-shirt; said jacket also had a bunch of chest pockets to keep extra kunai or shuriken in.

He had other clothes to, but they were for another time. After admiring himself in mirror for another minute, he turned to the bags of shopping on the table; which he had managed to purchase with the help of a lavender eyed beauty.

After sorting out his shopping, his food in the cupboards (for he refused to live on a diet of toast and instant ramen) and clothes and equipment in the wardrobe, Naruto headed straight for the shower; the smell of a hard workout was already contaminating the room.

After he showed, Naruto brushed his teeth, washed his face and put his clothes in the wash. From then on, Naruto began following the most boring thing he had learnt ever; routine. Don't get me wrong, routine is sometimes a good thing, but Naruto had done it so many times during the darker hours of the future it all became a blur after he'd done the first couple of steps of chorus.

Next thing he knew he was fed, he was in pyjamas and was lying in bed; the greyish cover was about a cm away from his chin. Now during this brief spell of time, before he sercombe to the desire of sleep, Naruto would usually evaluate his day; which in the future were all describable in one word: Dismal.

Today, in one word: Success!

Not only did he took Neji down by a few pegs and start a basic relationship with both Hinata and Shikamaru (who had caught up with the duo, after they had finished shopping, and asked Naruto to come round for tea tomorrow; which Naruto gladly accepted), he had spent a small day-out with Hinata; after the small shopping rush together.

They had walked around mostly, touring all the best spots in the village, and had exchanged words on many conversations. At the end of the day, he had escorted her home to the Hyuuga compound and had managed to say goodbye without a single trace of red on either of their cheeks.

But the thing that made him feel really pleased about him-self that he could face the coming challenges head on with a certainty of untold proportions, was that he had fulfilled one of his broken promises; he had taken Hinata to Chi Eat, the place she had begged him to go on the fateful day.

True that it wasn't the same Hinata and he had promised to take her to the Chi Eat restaurant; but as far as he was concerned, it was close enough. And with that, sleep took him into his arms.

**Itachi finished his job, a slight smile on his face as he muttered; "Not bad, not bad at all..." He was soon disturbed by a group bearing into the dusty room; said group comprising of Naruto, Hinata, Shikamaru, Kiba and Tsunade. **

"**Itachi," they yelled in unison; "How come Sakura was here; she supposed to be in hospital!" **

**Before Itachi could answer, they all heard another pair of feet entering the trash-heap of a room. They turned to see...Sakura, wearing her usual pink dress. Silence greeted her arrival, as her brown eyes—wait, BROWN?**

"**Err, hi, Sakura," greeted Naruto, his voice gave the impression that he didn't want to talk to 'her'. "How have you..." He was interrupted, by Sakura pulling her face off.**

**As the mask drifted to the floor, all but Itachi gaped. But they all cried out, in a surprised cry of utter disbelief; "WELSHSCOT!" **

**Yep, it was me; currently ripping off the hideous dress of Sakura. It had been an act of desperation as you readers wanted me to update my story. Sakura was still in hospital and no one would have agreed to pose as her willingly, besides someone who was desperate. I was desperate and now I'll have nightmares for the rest of my life; maybe a year if I'm lucky. **

**As the tatted dress fell to the floor (revealing my usual attire that had been underneath), I slowly walked towards my desk; right through the five person crowd of ninjas. Before I reached Itachi and my desk, I heard Kiba give a small, bark of laughter.**

**I turned round; fury and contempt were steaming off my face as my eyes lay upon Kiba, who wisely began to back away. My dignity had already been spoiled and my personal hygiene seemed to have decreased the moment I wore Sakura's costume, both causing my anger to rise to breaking point. Kiba's mockery was the last straw.**

**I plunged my hand into my miraculously large pocket and thought; **_**{I don't own...Portal.} **_**After these words were thought, the power of disclaimers worked its magic. From my over large pocket, I pulled out a small, white ****ASHPD; more commonly known as a Portal Gun.**

**Before Kiba could remark on the strange weapon in my hands, I aimed and fired a blue portal at his feet and simultaneously fired an orange one over Kiba's head. **

**Kiba had no chance, as the ground gave way from under him. He fell, and fell...and fell...**

**I turned away from my handy work, which in lay mans terms meant that I had trapped Kiba in an infinity loop. I walked past Itachi, who was just standing as still as a statue, and sat down at my desk; carefully placing the Portal Gun on a spot that wasn't too dirty. **

"**Now, if anyone..." **

**I stopped my threat as it was not needed, for all the ninja (except Itachi and Kiba) had made a break for the door; none of them wanting to experience my wroth. **

**After the dust settled, silence penetrated the room; ignoring the distorted screams of Kiba. Itachi was the first to speak, his voice bearing no hint of emotion as he stated "Nice gadget, Welshscot-sama." **

**I looked down at the Portal Gun on my desk, a grin forming on my face. "Thanks, Itachi. I got the chance to use this while I worked on one of my stories; the ones that I worked on while I thought out how to break my bubble on this story."**

"**May I ask, what are the names of these stories; if you plan on publishing them?" **

**I turned towards my laptop and began writing their names on the screen: 'Zapping with Portals' and 'Infamous Effect: The Conduit Engineer'. **

"**I managed to write the first chapter of these stories, but I need to find a beta reader who knows Portal, InFamous and Mass Effect (all of which I do not own). My current beta for this story knows squat about them." **

**I looked again at the screen, addressing you readers, saying: **_**(A/N: So can someone lend me and hand with that? I want to publish my ideas and see what people think of them.**_** And can you also review to ask questions about anything you're confused about in the story.)**

**Peace out and have a good life; I'm certainly won't be getting one soon. Well, better start cleaning. Adios! **


	8. Night Terrors and Training: Part 1

R/L: HOLY SHIT! It's been how long since I've posted something? I've been busy with R/L stuff, occupied with other ideas and been working with a writer named /glass empire on a story called Anthem of our dying days. I apologies to all readers. Without further ado, I'll hand you over to Welshaldy—

A/N: "WELSHSCOT! MY NAME IS WELSHSCOT, DAMN IT!

R/L: Fine, Welshscot. (Note; A/N is from the point of view of my OC character, who is nicknamed Welshscot. R/L is me, the writer. Also note that the following A/N is full of hint of story ideas I've had but I am not working on at all. And that it's outdated since the character and the jokes will be changed for the next A/N)

_**A/N**_

"_**...And I leaped through the Portal." **_

_**Itachi and I were sitting in my room, both armed with cups of our choosing (I had coffee and Itachi had tea); and we were both sure that our drinks were devoid of a bitch's urine. We had double checked today, for 'Oh the bitch is back, stone cold sober as a matter a fact'. **_

_**I had just finished telling Itachi about my 'bouncing' months. Some people say that I was relaxing; they are sure as hell wrong. In real life, the person who writes the stories and me (Welshscot), he was busy with massive amounts of work and other social problems.**_

_**Me? I had been travelling to all sorts of places, from one universe to the next; from a tester in Aperture Science to a punch bag for Hell Wraiths. It had been worth it, for my writer's block is now (as suggested by HinaLuvLuvChan) a small sculptor of Naruto punching the shit out of Sakura's dead body (like what happened in the first chapter).I also discovered some interesting things about myself, like the fact I go berserk after consuming Scottish Whiskey. (R/L: Aka, idea making)**_

_**Along with that lovely piece of art was a Portal Gun, a hip flask, a blast shard, a Geth's head (which I'm using as a lamp), and a lovely Scottish Broad sword (and spear) . They were all on my desk, mementos of my month's adventures and chaotic trips and beatings. (Which, to be honest, I DON'T OWN AND WON'T BE SEEN FOR SOME TIME!)**_

_**Itachi was chuckling at the story I just told him, his cup an inch away from his lips. "Ho-hum, that was close. That will teach you to travel to the MK universe wearing robes; especially around a wraith who had his family killed by a sorcerer." **_

"_**How was I supposed to know I'd land in the Netherrealm?" I huffed, "The long range Portal feature is unreliable; it's not even part of the original Portal Gun..." **_

_**As we both drained the dregs of our drinks, Naruto and Shikamaru entered our room; one was trying to engage the other in conversation while said other just wanted a nap. The new arrivals soon caught mine and Itachi's attention, and the blonde turned to us for conversation.**_

"_**Hi Welsh-sama, Itachi-kun; I see you got the room tidy at last." Naruto's eyes observed the room, which a while ago had been dust strewn and spider infested.**_

"_**Yep," I replied, a grin on my face, "The spiders are gone; the dust is at bay and..." I pointed at the window by the side of my desk, "...I managed to replace the glass, cheap. The inner Scotsman in me is pleased." **_

_**Everyone laughed; even Shikamaru gave a dry chuckle at my stereotypical joke. Clearing my throat, as the laughter died down, I began my author's notes:**_

_**A/N: Alright, first things first...Dragon Man 180...DAMN, YOU'RE SHARP! How did you work it out, I didn't think anyone would. Yes, he did...and that's all I'm saying! And yes, Rye will be a present character in my story. **_

_**Hektols, you have pointed out two very important things. Now, Tsunade wouldn't fall to poison in the real anime. But Jiraiya was once fooled by Tsunade, and he is a Sanin. But only because Jiraiya trusted her; and Tsunade wouldn't expect her pupil to turn on her and her village.  
**_

_**Temari's attitude is OOC, she would be after Sasuke like mad. But I needed something to hit home to Shikamaru (in future) and Naruto. Shikamaru becomes cold and distant to everyone and Naruto is having an inner struggle of his promise to Itachi (the one where he promises to save both the village and Sasuke).  
**_

_**He does give up on that promise, but people have doubts if he could kill Sasuke due to his brotherly feeling for him; causing the villagers to doubt him and his friends to question him. That's all during the dark years of the future, the last two years to be exact (in total is four years after defeating Pein).  
**_

_**But all the same, Hektols, I appreciate your honest review and welcome it. I know I have shit spelling and reading, but your reviews are worth reading; either good or bad. So, as I think it's nice to say it, I must thank the following:  
**_

_**Hektols: for sticking with me and giving honest opinions; good or bad.**_

_**forbiddenluv4Naruto: for sticking with me. (PS: Yes, the future Hinata does know about the fox. But there is a secret that she, and everyone else, doesn't know about Naruto. That was a spoiler, not saying anything more.)**_

_**Dragon Man 180: for sticking with me, suggestions and sharp eyes.**_

_**Rose Tiger: Just sticking with me.**_

_**And Uzumaki Ricky: for sticking with me and giving my real life self a push (that did work, it's just real life being a bitch and was, and still am, busy with Anthem of our Dying Days.**_

_**RisingMist: Yeah, I see what you mean. I was trying to say that he was lacking in different types of Elemental manipulation; like ones involving hand seals. And I have found a beta, which is unreliable. So thanks for the honest review.**_

_**And, last but not least, Deathmvp: for help with my couple problem and giving me ideas that are just golden :) **_

_**As I paused for breath, Naruto poked me in the back and asked, "Wait a second, we're not ready!"**_

_**I spun round, startled by Naruto's poke and statement. "What do mean, Naruto? Everything's ready, I just need to finish my A..."**_

_**But Shikamaru interrupted, his voice sounding as bored as usual. "Not everyone is present, Welshscot-kun. Sakura has returned from hospital, unfortunately..." This was followed by nods of agreement. "...But we still need Sasuke. He has been missing for months now and we've seen neither hide nor hair of him..."**_

_**Naruto looked concerned as he saw the problem, but Itachi and I both grinned. In answer to our action, I told the blonde and the genius, "Didn't I say? I found Sasuke during my travels. He's in his room, doing his usual routine of brooding." **_

_**Naruto looked relieved at this news, but Shikamaru still had more to say. "And we also need to let Kiba down." **_

"_**Huh... What you on about?" I replied, confusion sliding across my face. In answer, both Shikamaru and Itachi pointed to...ah. **_

_**It was Kiba, falling down and down...and down. It was a second before I clapped my forehead, and exclaimed, "Oh, right! Of course, I infinity looped you!" If you read the previous A/N, you'd know that Kiba laughed at me for...what I did; so I trapped him in a loop of never ending falling. Now I need him out, without killing him. **_

_**Cursing the fact I had left my long-fall boots behind at Aperture, I looked around wildly for a way to free Kiba from the loop and not his body. After about two minutes, in which I began to notice Kiba's yells of 'LET ME OUT OF HERE', I found my solution.**_

_**As I stood up and picked up my Portal Gun off my desk, the inner Scotsman in me groaned, {Why do we have to do this? It wasn't blooming cheap, lad, that's for sure!} Ignoring my Scottish side, I aimed at the ceiling above my bed, and fired an orange portal.**_

_**Kiba, with the force of a battering ram, came crashing down upon my bed; resulting in a tremendous smash that could be heard all the way to the Netherrealm. My bed stood no chance, its metal frame buckled under the force of impact. **_

_**The metal framework broke apart, sending bits flying all over the room (almost giving Shikamaru an earlier nap). The mattress, which bore the body of Kiba, had been the only thing that stopped Kiba from dying and causing major damage to my house. **_

_**My inner Scot was crying at the sight, while my Welsh side shrugged, {Meh, it's just a bed. We can buy a new one, you blubbering thistle.} In case you don't know, Welsh people are known as thieves or people who don't care what their given. This is a case of either impending urges to rob or just a Shikamaru attitude. (Please don't be offended by this or become upset. I am insulting myself, after all.) **_

_**Back to Kiba; his bones seemed to be intact as he managed to stand up on my mattress. He did stumble, as he gingerly got off my ruined mattress, so Naruto decided to lend him a hand. As he helped the dog ninja to walk, I saw the said ninja's face. It had a marginal green hue of G-force sickness. Underneath that, rage was thrice and vengeance plenty; his eyes the keeper of said fury. **_

_**While his left arm was hooked around Naruto shoulders, his right began pointing at me; his hand was either shaking from G-shock or with anger as it pointed at my head. "You..." He gasped, his voice sounding dazed but enraged, "...are so..." **_

_**Luckily, as he guessed what Kiba's next word will be, Shikamaru interrupted him; his voice sounding as bored as ever. "Kiba, as much as you want to throttle Welsh, we also need him for the chapter. If you feel the need to extract revenge, do it after he's finished narrating."**_

_**Kiba glared at Shikamaru, who had begun to watch my ceiling's green paint dry with mild interest, until he turned his furious gaze upon me. It clearly read 'Next time, you're dog meat'. His canines added a PS: 'And Sakura's old hospital bed will have a bowl next to it; with your name around the rim'.**_

_**Message sent; Kiba, Naruto and Shikamaru began exiting the room at a slow pace. My mind discarded Kiba's threat in an instant, only to be struck by another thought. As Kiba and Naruto were about to leave the room, having passed Shikamaru who'd only moved a few inches, I suddenly shouted after them, "Hey, during the next chapter, don't say 'tentacles' around Sasuke!" **_

_**The leaving trio turned to look at me, each with his own look of amusement and confusion. Before they could query; I hurriedly explained, "Don't ask why, I'll tell you later. Just don't say it; we need to do this chapter, without me being interrupted at all. So don't say it, ok?" Not waiting for a reply; I threw the Portal Gun, I was holding, onto the desk and sat down in front of my laptop.**_

_**Kiba, Naruto and Shikamaru exchanged a last look of bewilderment, before finally leaving for the chapter; with Shikamaru at the rear. Itachi, who had not moved a muscle and was still holding his empty teacup, looked round to stare at my back; as my fingers began to fly across the keyboard. "You know Kiba is going to say it, don't you?"**_

_**His words fell on deaf ears, as I began writing the story that you have been patiently waiting to read.**_

Night Terrors and Training: Shikamaru's first clues Part 1

_**[Different denotes neither bad nor good, but it certainly means not the same. -Cheshire Cat-] **_

_**Dark was the path that the old child took, **_

_**Damp was the ground where the young man stood.**_

"_No kidding. I'm up to my knees in water and this place could do with a few candles."_

_**Down in the ground the old child squandered, **_

_**Around and around the young man wandered.**_

"_Odd, children are younger than men. Whoever is reciting this poetry needs to find a thesaurus."_

_**Tall is the child that plays near demons, **_

_**Short is the man who fears believers.**_

"_...Wait, why is there a guy reciting poetry? Aren't I...No, it can't be..."_

_Naruto blinked, his eyes adjusting to the new gloom. He was standing...In a sewer! Naruto spun round, his eyes recognising the place that had been his mindscape; the place where he had held back his tears from the world__. Even though this place was old, it felt different; the darkness was more pronounced and the water was icy cold._

_He looked down at himself and was surprised to see he looked just like himself. Not a child of twelve, but a man of twenty. His father's coat was on, covering a deep red-brown cotton shirt and brown shinobi trousers. This combo of red, brown and white l__ooked like it would stand out in both crowds of people or leaves__. But with the coat set aside, the rest was perfect for blending against tree bark or stone faces. _

_His eyes moved past his attire and onto... His eyes narrowed, as they spied the bars of the Kyuubi's cage; which seemed to hold only darkness. However, further investigation proved that statement false. _

_At the very edge of the cage, just in front of the bars, was...him? Naruto blinked and took a step back, his eyes gazing upon a smaller boy, in an orange jumpsuit. The child Naruto looked like his old self, but was clearly just a distorted version. The child's eyes were blue, but they looked dead and empty._

_As the older Naruto gazed at his double; the child opened its mouth, and whispered;_

_**Fool is the child who holds back tears, **_

_**Fool is the man who lies in fears.**_

_Naruto took a step back, deciding that an image of his younger self that spouts creepy poetry was not something to get close to. _

_The man then stopped, not in safety, but in fear. Behind the boy tendrils of red, bloody muscle loomed from the dark. Before the man could say or do anything, the tendrils wrapped around the boy; enveloping him from head to toe as he gave a piercing scream._

_The man watched, frozen to the watery spot, as blood dripped down the blonde boy's jumpsuit; turning bright orange to dark red. The tendrils, once having completely covered the chest and legs, began plunging into the boy's skin and eye sockets; the screaming intensified to unbearable levels. _

_But the screams of pain turned into cackles of high pitched laughter. The child Naruto turned its head to face the real, adult Naruto; with bloody sockets and fanged teeth._

_**Dead is the boy who clung to promises,**_

_**Soon the man who relies on CHANCES!**_

_And as it gave another shriek of mirth, it opened its mouth. More blood strewn tentacles emerged from the gaping hole, and Naruto finally regained his leg power. _

_The twenty year old was racing away from the Kyuubi's cage, the sound of dripping blood and splashing foot falls filling his ears. As he pelted through the dark tunnels of the sewer, faces began appearing out of the shadows._

_Iruka, his scar open and bleeding, Shino, his glasses askew and face white, Hinata, tears of blood streaming down her cheeks, and countless others; the blank, accusing stares of the people he had sworn to protect. Whom he had failed to protect. _

_As the eyes of the fallen pressed in around him, while he continued to run through the veil of darkness, another face joined the throng. At first, it was small; an unrecognisable dot in the darkness that stretched before the fleeing man. But as Naruto got closer, the memory of the tentacles (which were still chasing him with earnest) took a back seat._

_The small head, that had been so far away, was now right in front of him, joined to a small, teenage body. Naruto's eyes widened, as his sea blue eyes stared down into black, beetle ones; which were cast into shadow by the teen's straw-hat._

_The teenager smiled at Naruto, as a brother would smile at a brother, and at that moment; the blonde knew. He raised his hand, trying as fast he could to pull the teen out of harm's way, but to no use._

_As his fingers where a fraction away from the teen's shoulder a whooshing sound was heard. Next second, the teen's shirt was ablaze; red flames were already spreading to the tips of his fingers and toes. _

_Naruto withdrew his hand, the tips of his fingers burnt, and watched in horror as the boy burst into flames. The scream was agonizing reverberating through Naruto's ear drums. But even so, the teen's smile was still there; plastered on his melting face. But the smile, though wide and toothy, was blank and bare. _

_The smile of a skull is always like that, wide but full of no meaning. It only vanishes when one smashes said skull or buries it deep down underground. But for Naruto, it left his sight when it cascaded to the sewer floor; along with the rest of the teen's bones._

_Naruto was shocked, his heart beating like a heavy metal drum, as he gazed upon the bones of..._

_His head shot up, as the sound of an all too familiar 'humph' reached his ears. Standing in front of the blonde, and behind the new heap of bones, was the cruel face, raven hair and red eyes of Sasuke Uchiha. _

_Naruto, with rage coursing through his veins, automatically reached for the inner pocket of his coat; where he hid the tools of his ninja trade. But as the man's fingers entered the hidden coat pocket; a loud cackle sounded behind him. _

_He spun round, his fingers pulling out...nothing. He starred at his empty hand, confusion etched into his eyes. He took a glance at where the new sound had come from; and both his mysteries were answered._

_Standing a feet away, holding an array of kunai and shuriken, was Sakura. Her pink hair was still the same, but her face shown with malice and her dress was dripping with blood. As Naruto stared at the girl, whose eyes were bulging with mirth as they looked upon the dead teen's bones, an emotion began its own course in his body. _

_Rage joined this feeling, making it more potent and concentrated. This feeling was hatred. Pure, uncontrolled loathing was descending upon Naruto's face; making the anger at Sasuke look like a loving hug. Weapon-less, he charged at Sakura; his hands outstretched for her throat._

_Without warning, Naruto felt a tug that almost pulled him off his feet. Wild with surprise, the blonde looked at his right fore-arm; and to his horror, he found five, bloody tentacles. They had snaked under the water, camouflaged by the blood that was dripping off Sakura's dress, and where now claiming their reward. _

_As four more coiled around Naruto's arm; he felt another pull that felt like something was trying to rip his left arm out of its socket. His gaze found the source, and it was not too his gaze's pleasure. More tentacles had slithered out of the darkness, this time, from behind the duck butt, Sasuke. However, these tentacles did not ooze blood. Instead, they roared with a dark, reddish flame; one that Naruto knew only too well. _

_Naruto began struggling against the iron grip of the tentacles, and equal number now on either side. Both sets of tentacles, with the force of a heard of horses, pulled at the blonde man; earning a yell of pain. _

_They pulled again, this time sustaining the motion. A tug of war, between fire and blood, had begun; and Naruto was the unwilling rope. The blonde continued to struggle, till a hard jerk from the right ripped off his arm._

_Naruto's screams seemed to echo in the sewer, as blood gushed out of his right arm socket. The bloody tentacles did not stop there. On the contrary, the nine, bloody things began to move towards his head. The left, having almost pulled off the man's left arm, seemed to notice this change of target. The flaming tentacles left the arm, which was hanging off by a slither of flesh, and joined the bloody nine in their new pursuit. _

_Naruto's screams where muffled, as a tentacle wrapped around his mouth. Then the tentacles, left and right, began to tug and pull. The pain Naruto was in was unbearable. He began to feel his face tear apart, his brain being crushed and his forehead spilt down the middle. _

_Then, with one last tug, his head was..._

"NOOOOOOO!"

Naruto shot up, throwing off his cover by the mere speed of his movement. He was sweating bullets, SMG grade, and his entire body was either covered in cold sweat or was shaking like a leaf. The blonde's next move, out of mindless worry, was to check if his head was still in one piece. Both of his hands began feeling around his face; from tapping his chin to rubbing his forehead. After a minute of frantic panic, Naruto finally laid his head back down on his pillow.

He tilted his head to the left so his eyes could see past the window pane, and at the view of Konoha. It was only of a few buildings, a glimpse of the Academy and a small view of the Hokage faces; but it soothed Naruto to know that his village was safe and quite. As his sight became unfocused and glassy, for sleep was wrapping its arms around him again, he saw the faint image of his reflection...the image of a child's face...

He sat up; bolt upright, as all the details of his nightmare came flooding back. Having shrugged off sleep's embrace, he looked back at his faint reflection. His breathing had raised an octave in those few seconds, but it soon returned to normal levels as Naruto saw his sea blue eyes; not a trace of red to be seen. Furthermore, unlike the baby blue eyes of a child, Naruto could see a certain...dullness in his iris. It wasn't an ugly effect, but it made it look like his eyes were older than his face.

He wondered if other people had noticed this about his eyes. He wasn't worried that they would guess he was from the future, who could deduce that without the aid of a large bottle of sake, but it could lead to awkward and unwanted questions.

Abandoning all thoughts of sleep, Naruto turned his head to the room at large, and swung his legs out of bed. Now sitting on the edge of his bed, he aimed his vision at the alarm on his bedside table. It read, twenty past five. He had woken up forty minutes earlier than usual.

Six was his rising hour, for it took him half-an-hour to wash, eat and get dressed. Then, after a couple of laps around Konoha, a habit that the spandex duo had drilled into his brain, he would arrive at his usual training ground for seven o'clock. He would then practice either his Taijutsu or Ninjutsu for about two hours.

Well, that _had _been his routine 'till about four days ago. Instead of heading straight to training, and also skipping out the eating part of his half-hour, Naruto now sat down at Chi Eat; accompanied by the raven haired beauty, Hinata Hyuuga.

Following the advice of the chef/owner of Chi Eat, an ex-shinobi named Rye, Naruto and Hinata had agreed to do morning training sessions. Hinata had been worried about getting up early at first; worrying that Naruto might not like having to wake up at the crack of dawn. But after the blonde had assured her that he was already training early, her misgivings were forgotten. It was nice though, that Hinata had been concerned about Naruto's feelings. It was more the problem that Hinata had almost fainted when Naruto asked _her_ the same question.

Despite that, they agreed to meet at seven for breakfast at Chi Eat; where Rye gave them, not only a healthy breakfast, but a minor 'training' discount. After about fifteen minutes of tea and rice, the training partners made their way to Naruto's training ground. The first time they travelled to the training ground, they had done so in an awkward silence; since both kids were still shy around each other. At the end of their first training session, they both managed to banish their blushes from greetings and goodbyes.

The two ninja had begun their combined training with chakra control, meaning that Naruto was teaching Hinata how to do the tree climbing exercise. It turned out that Hinata did know of the tree exercise; her father had told her about it and had demanded her to do it, without even showing or telling her the basic principles of how to accomplish it. Her father had done this with many other techniques and forms; demanding her to perform them to his standard without even an example to go on. This had been news to Naruto, as Hinata's future self had never mentioned her training with her father, and it not only annoyed the blonde that her father had been such an idiot, but it also explained to him why Hinata was always so derogatory of her own skill.

After a quick pep talk, about how her father had been a baka and that she shouldn't be put off by the man's stupidity, Hinata excelled; mastering the tree climbing and water walking exercises without even getting wet. Somehow, Naruto thought that his pep talk might have been said in the original timeline, probably by her Sensei, Kurenai, and the reason why it had such a dramatic effect now, was that it had came from him.

From chakra control, Taijutsu was there next focus. Naruto decided to start slowly with Hinata, despite her new found confidence. He summoned a single shadow clone to fight Hinata; ordering it to just stand still, so the Hyuuga could practice her gentle fist. But from stationary, the clone was told to doge, then to defend and then attack. Soon, Hinata was facing against five or so clones; all trying to land a blow upon the lavender eyed girl. This is when Naruto joined in, fighting his own bunch of copies. It went well, even when something...painful, happened...

*Four days ago; 7:30 AM*

Flying through the air, a black sleeved arm raised, Naruto aimed at his target. The target ducked, grabbed the blonde's failed strike and threw him over its shoulder. The blonde slammed into the ground and puffed into a cloud of smoke.

The target, the real Naruto, quickly straightened his legs, spun on the spot, elbow raised, and connected it with another clone's jaw. In the same fluid movement, he continued spinning and unleashed a spinning round house kick; causing two more clones to vanish. As his kicking leg landed back on the ground, which formed a karate horse stance, Naruto pivoted to the right; brining a left uppercut to finish off the last clone.

Naruto lowered his fist, panting lightly and smiling broadly. Having finished off his last enemy, the black jacket wearing shinobi turned to his left; as so to watch his crush, crushing her own copies of himself.

They had moved from the main clearing to the forest river, as so to practice water walking, and both of the shinobi had their own fighting space; the blonde had the north while the raven haired girl had the south. She, with her byakugan blazing, was striking left and right; giving the clones no chance to think. Three had already fallen and the last two were soon to join them. In a last, ditch effort, one of the clones tried to charge at Hinata from behind; whilst the other tried to distract the Hyuuga from the front. She saw both the decoy and the attack and decided to go for both.

She pretended that she had not seen the clone behind her and instead moved forwards; her sharpened eyes focussed upon the decoy clone. Falling for her bluff, the clone behind her leaped through the air; his right leg primed for a drop kick. Hinata quickly wheeled round and aimed a sharp jab at the clone's extended leg. However, for some unknown reason, Hinata's aim had been off by a fraction. Instead of striking the tenketsu point (chakra point) in the clone's upper leg muscle, she had accidently struck the point in the clone's pride.

Now, due to the memory sharing feature of the shadow clone jutsu, Naruto also received a faint jolt of pain, depending on how the clone got killed. In battle, Naruto could ignore them. But if he was stationary, like watching a girl train, he could receive a nasty twinge. So the moment the clone, who Hinata had hit in the 'bottom scroll', had disappeared; the blonde bent over double, clutching his privates and yelling in pain.

Hinata, who had seen the original collapse with her 360 vision, gasped in horror and hurried over to the blonde's side; leaving the last clone to mirror its original's pain. "Naruto," she cried; her concerned eyes watching the blonde squirm. "Are you ok? Do you need help?"

"Ow...I'm fine, Hinata-chan." When this did not convince her, he added, truly, "Alright—No, I feel like my member is bleeding. My shadow clones can pass on memories back to me, including pain. I can usually ignore it when I'm fighting..." He winced as he tried to sit upright, as so to look Hinata in the face. "...But if I'm standing around, I get a full blast. And..." He glanced down at the space between his legs. "...That was the first time I received a Gentle Fist to my nuts. I hope you weren't aiming down there..."

Hinata shook her head; a slight pang of guilt began crossing her face. "I-I'm sorry, Naruto-kun. I didn't mean to hit you there; I was aiming at the tenketsu point in your clone's leg." A sudden thought struck her, one that didn't bode well for their friendship. "I-I didn't...Did I...?"

Naruto got her meaning, causing him to chuckle, softly. "No, they're fine, Hinata-chan. I only get the memory, not the physical damage." The blonde tried to stand, but his legs were still reacting to the pain and he almost fell over. Hinata helped him to his feet and kept him standing 'till he regained control of his bottom limbs. The tension was still thick as Naruto tapped his feet onto the ground, to test his movement, so the blonde tried to lighten the mood. "Well, at least I've got for warning of what'll happen if I make you mad."

What happened next could have been caused by many things; Naruto's encouragement, her success in training or that it was just too hot. By some force, Hinata decided to try something. "Oh, I don't think I'll ever get mad at you, Naruto-kun..." If it was how alluring her voice purred or how she batted her eye lashes, Naruto was tomato red and he felt like he could faint there and then.

"You two seem to be having fun."

Hinata and Naruto spun round, the action causing the blonde to tumble to the floor, embarrassing him even more. In between two trees and wearing a chief's apron, was Rye; who was wearing a broad grin that made his scars more visible. Now that they saw him without being behind a counter, Rye looked as tall as Asuma; except dark skinned and clean shaven. They also saw his hair, which was jet black and about as tall as cut grass.

As Naruto leapt back onto his feet, Rye had managed to stride across the open ground that lay between the trees and the river. "Rye," said Naruto as he dusted himself off, "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to see how you two love birds were getting on." The young ninjas blushed at that comment, which earned a small laugh from Rye. "Ha, ha; I'm starting to see why Ibiki teased me and..." He paused as a memory seemed to flit across his mind, which caused a slight smile. He broke off from his reminisce and began to speak in a hearty tone. "Anyway, like I said, I wanted to see how you'd train. I'm impressed you started with chakra control, very good, and I must say that using shadow clones for dummies is a good idea. I was worried that you would over use the technique, but it looks like you've got an amazing supply of chakra. Not bad for a kid your age."

Naruto gave him a slightly annoyed glare, which Rye either ignored or not noticed as he continued speaking. "Now that you've finished Taijutsu, in a rather abrupt way..." Hinata gave off a nervous laugh, but no red appeared on her cheeks. "...I think it's time for Ninjutsu. Now this is quite advance, but I think I might be able to help you with elemental jutsu. I've brought..." The chief then pulled out two pieces of blank paper, which Naruto recognised as... "...Chakra paper, sheets of chakra infused paper that react when chakra is channelled through it." Hinata, who had looked confusingly at the paper, now looked excited.

Naruto pretended to look excited, while inside he was scared. He did not want to reveal that he had three affinities, two his own and one of the fox, because only people who had trained constantly could achieve even a double element. He could pass it off as a rare, natural ability, but it would still draw more suspicion upon him and that was the last thing he needed.

Rye handed Hinata her Chakra paper and did the same with Naruto; though he noticed that the blonde did so with a slight resentment in his eyes... The chef shook his head, vigorously. He still had the same, crazy feeling that caused him to think the word, 'older', every time he looked the blonde in the eyes.

His mind was distracted from this, as his ears noticed the sound of dripping. Hinata had coursed chakra through the slim piece of paper, causing it to wilt as it went soaking wet. "Ah," exclaimed Rye, with excitement. "You have the same element as me, water! This is good, I can teach you the basics myself! Also, because it's usual that girls have better chakra control than boys, I could teach you the basics of being a medic. You could have a multirole; an attacker and defender with water jutsus, a tracker with you kekkei genkai and a healer with your medi skills."

The very idea of how useful she could be with either skill entranced Hinata; her eyes seemed to shimmer with excitement. Seeing this, Rye didn't have the heart to tell her how hard it would be to learn these skills. But with the encouragement and advice from Naruto, Rye guessed that she already knew the hardships that were in store, and is ready to face them head-on.

Speaking of the blonde, Rye was in for a pleasant surprise. Turning his head round, Rye saw three things. He saw Naruto's chakra paper split in two, become dirty and gritty and finally burst into flames. There was a moment's silence, as Rye looked at the smouldering remains of the chakra paper. Hinata, who did not fully understand the significance of this event, just looked from Rye's stunned face to Naruto's look of surprise; which, for some strange reason, looked slightly put on.

"So..." Said Naruto; his voice sounding questioning and bemused. "...Does this mean I have multiple affinities, or something? Like what Iruka talked about during his lectures?" In his head, Naruto decided to not play dumb with affinities; it would clash with his 'faking the idiot' excuse.

"Yes, Naruto..." Rye answered, slowly. "To be precise, you have affinities with wind, earth and fire." The chef bit his lip, his brow screwed up in concentration. "This...is surprising. Very few ninjas have three affinities. And they had to train continuously to even get the potential of having a third."

Naruto laughed a little and gave a sheepish grin. "Ha, if that's true, then I must be a rare exception. I mean, I have dabbled with elemental manipulation; but I never thought I'd have that many affinities..."

Rye and Hinata both starred at the blonde, questioningly, until words from the day before resurfaced in their memories. "Wait, by 'dabbled', do you mean the stuff that your father left for you...?" Hinata faltered, as a dark cloud seemed to pass over the blonde's head. Mentioning his father, by the looks of it, seems to be a taboo around Naruto; something which Rye and Hinata now realised.

After what seemed an age, Rye finally sparked life amongst them. "So, Naruto—Can you show me your results by...'dabbling', with elemental manipulation?"

From there, the training session began moving again. Naruto had shown Rye and Hinata his 'dabbling' with elemental jutsu; to some certain extent. He showed them the basic attempts at Genin water and lighting exercises; which he knew due to the fact that his father had listed all element exercises, in case Naruto had different affinities. Also, he did this so not to arouse suspicion. If he claimed to have only trained with the elements he was affiliated with, after claiming he had just discovered this fact, it would raise awkward questions.

When he came to wind manipulation, he had no choice but to go to the full extent of his training; due to Iruka witnessing his first attempt on the night he returned to the past. Hinata was amazed at Naruto's skill, as he sliced two stones in each of his palms. She was even more impressed when Rye revealed that it was a Jounin level exercise. The ex-Shinobi was also amazed, but a gut feeling asked if a boy, who was self taught, could have learnt to achieve such power without help.

Rye did not comment, and after the blonde showed a Chunin earth exercise and a Genin fire exercise (in which the blonde burnt his mouth), he had dismissed the urge from his gut feeling. The next half hour almost flew by, and Rye had to say it was productive. He had spent most of it supervising Hinata, showing her a basic water manipulation exercise and giving her a realistic talk about how long it should take to master it; which was about a whole year. She had taken it well and spent the thirty minutes crouched by the river; trying to make water float up and around her hand.

With Naruto, the chef decided to show the blonde a tricky Earth Jutsu (which he had learnt from a comrade he once knew) to keep him occupied. It was called, **Golem's Staircase**. The hand signs were easy to perform, but this jutsu required a mixture of chakra control and balance. Once a person lands on the last sign, the serpent, they raise their foot and the ground will rise to the bottom of their heel. The jutsu was designed to be non-lethal, a way to move around easily, but Rye discovered that it could be used to make lethal kicks. If, after activating the Jutsu, you swing your leg skywards, like if you're trying to kick a person in the chin but miss narrowly, then the ground will raise to your feet like usual, whilst first connecting with a man's chin.

Naruto took to the challenge with an eager glow in his eyes; which was soon struck by a pillar of dirt. After thirty minutes passed, they all agreed to stop for the day; Rye in great spirits, Hinata with a sense of achievement and Naruto with a black eye. The three marched back to Chi Eat, where Rye gave the two ninjas a strong cup of herbal tea.

As Naruto downed his third cup, Hinata pulled out a small pot of ointment and said, slowly, "Naruto-kun, would you like some ointment for your eye?" Her hands were slightly shaky, but her face was confidant and devoid of embarrassing colours.

The blonde squinted through his puffy eye, realised what it was, and gave a small smile. "Thank you, Sunshine-chan." It was only after he had taken the ointment and began to prize the lid off when Naruto realised what he had said.

Rye, who was cleaning his side of the counter, had a hard time deciding which ninjas' face was a deeper shade of red. As the silence dragged on, the chef began wondering if he should break the ice for the young love birds. But just before he could turn thought into words, the raven girl managed to ask, "W-hat did you call me, Naruto-Kun?" This was the first time in a while her voice had betrayed a stutter; quite a feat if you ask me.

"S-sunshine-chan..." Replied the boy; his own voice just as shaky. "You know—your name means, 'Towards a sunny place'..." His voice trailed off, his blue eyes now fixed upon the ground. "I-I'll understand if you don't want me to call you that—"

But Hinata shook her head; a small smile was spreading across her. "No," she replied, in a low and stutter-less whisper. "I like it...I like it allot." Naruto raised his head, a sheepish grin now hung on his mug. They stared at each other, their eyes fixed upon the other, their heart beats thumping at the same, fast pace. The blonde opened his mouth and—

"Aw, young love."

Naruto and Hinata continued to stare, but death shone in their irises and Rye was the one sweating.

*Present Day*

Naruto chuckled as he remembered that last detail of his memory. Rye might be a rotten teaser, but he was a great teacher and an outstanding cook. The blonde had only just met him and he had already grown on him. It was amazing to think that this man had always been there, cooking rice and serving tea, trying to achieve his dream of his parent's acceptance as a fine cook of the Chi Eat Restaurant, since before he joined Team 7...

That supposedly lucky number had brought to mind what day it is today. It was the day he was placed with Sasuke and Sakura, the future destroyers and traitors of Konoha. _{No,} _thought Naruto, _{I won't let that happen. I can save the village and hopefully them two...}_

But deep within him, in a dark corner of him soul that had nothing to do with the Kyuubi, a voice asked, _{But do you want to save them? After all they did to you, to this village, do they really deserve your kindness? You could end their lives now, like they ended your friends, your teachers...your lover...}_

Naruto shook his head, trying to rid himself of his dark thoughts. He began muttering to himself, trying to drown his inner evil with hurried muttering, "No, they haven't done anything yet, they're not like their future selves and there're _never_ going to be!" He shouted that last past, causing his dark, vengeful desire to vanish...for now. 

A sudden, loud ringing brought Naruto's senses back to the real world. His alarm clock, now showing six, was raging like a mob of women chasing Jiraiya after he had been caught peeping. Slamming his fist upon the red ringer, Naruto jumped to his feet; his body soon began moving into the boring morning routine. Like a robot, Naruto picked out his clothes (the same outfit he had bought and worn on his first shopping trip with Hinata-), put his pyjamas in the wash and had a shower. Since he and Hinata had agreed not to train today, the blonde was pulled from his routine as he asked himself: "Chinese breakfast or Western fry up?"

Soon, the sounds of sizzling sausages, eggs and bacon filled the apartment. With a knife and fork in hand, the blonde began to devour his breakfast; savouring the delusions taste of one of is pork sausages.

In the future, the western cuisine had taken the village by storm; bring to light beverages that had lain dormant in food markets for years like coffee and milkshakes. Though this had been in the final days before the dark cloud of Sasuke's invasion took to the sky above Konoha, Naruto had taken a great liking to the new trend of cutlery dining.

While he sliced into the yoke of his fried egg, his mind began to turn to a very important matter. How would he treat his soon-to be (again) teammates? Naruto had already decided not to go along the route of idiocy, but how he would cooperate with the Duck-butt and Banshee had been kept totally at bay. He couldn't pretend the whole, 'Sasuke's like a brother to me' feeling, as it had been broken long ago (or later on) by the atrocities he had committed. And he as sure as hell wouldn't be drooling over Sakura; he'd do that when Jiraiya stops being a pervert. Even thinking of that traitorous, two faced whore made him want to kill someone...

He closed his eyes, counted to ten and dropped his now bent fork; which fell onto his empty plate with a clatter. It was obvious that Sasuke, despite all he did to the innocent people of the Elemental Nations, would not rouse as much hate as it would with Sakura. She had been one of the last people he could trust when the Ninja cities began to fall, and she turned out to be the cause of their destruction, of the entire village.

_{It looks like my main challenge in this mission,} _thought Naruto; his hands now busy with cleaning away his breakfast. _{Is to do my best to ignore my hatred of Sakura; or at least when the time comes to save Sasuke from himself. No need to make her redemption painless...} _

He gave a small smirk, as his future seemed a little brighter. As the alarm-clock hand reached half six, Naruto began to open his bedside table's draw. His blue eyes seemed to shine with joy and purpose, which was reflected on the metal plate of Iruka's head band. Carefully, like he was handling a new born baby, the blonde picked up his head band; his face screwing up in grim determination. When he tied it round his head, when he finally pulled the knot tight, he felt like this moment, this repeat of his past was marking the start of his struggle. His struggle to save the village, his friends, the Nation, from the future that was carved out by the acts of two people. Two, hollow and self-centred people whom he need to save form their greatest enemy; themselves.

Without further ado, he strode to his apartment door. Taking one last look back at his tidy, perhaps over tidy room, he swung open the door and proudly strode out; off to face the challenges of the day.

It was after he had leapt onto the next rooftop, with purpose streaming out of him, before he realised that the academy wouldn't be open for another two and a half hours.

**R/L/A/N: To be continued...soon, hopefully. Until then, sorry for the long wait. **


End file.
